A NZME discussion on the refugee crisis, hosted by broadcaster Rachel Smalley, delved into topics such as the cost of refugees, whether New Zealand is doing enough to help the global situation, and how to help refugees long term.
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For millions of Syrians and other people displaced by conflict in their home countries, the Western Balkan Route can be a road towards refuge in Europe.
Beginning in Turkey, where 1.9 million refugees from neighbouring Syria are registered, those who can afford it board boats which transport them across the Aegean Sea to Greece.
Last week, according to EU border agency Frontex, more than 23,000 migrants entered Greece - mainly from Turkey - in flimsy rubber dinghys.
The number was an increase of nearly 50 per cent compared to the previous week.
After asylum seekers arrive in mainland Greece, many begin the journey north towards European Union country Hungary, via Macedonia and Serbia.
Since January 90,000 people have passed through Serbia, and about 500 have applied for asylum there, the BBC reported. Those who make it to Hungary, part of Europe's open border Schengen Area, can move between countries without border controls to seek refuge within friendly states like Germany and Austria.
Austrian and German interior ministries expect 80,000 and 800,000 asylum applications respectively this year.
The long Balkan Route is dangerous, according to World Vision, with threats of abuse and violence by smugglers, criminal gangs, corrupt police and border officials.
Human Rights Watch recently reported claims of mistreatment in Serbia of men, women and children seeking asylum, including pregnant women and unaccompanied minors.
The route is also used for heroin trafficking.
Within the first half of 2015, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR estimated 137,000 people successfully made the trip from Turkey to Greece.
According to Frontex, trends at the start of this year showed a tenfold annual increase in people travelling from Greece on the Western Balkans route.
As a result, both Macedonia and Serbia have witnessed dramatic increases in migrants and asylum seekers.
Within Serbia this year alone, UNHCR has documented 83,000 registered migrants and more than 500 asylum claims.
Estimates by the UNHCR place the number of people crossing from Greece to Macedonia daily at 3000.
Refugees and migrants wait to cross the border from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia. Photo / AP
Illegal migrants walk near the railway crossing at the border between Hungary and Serbia. Photo / AP
TEAR Fund chief executive and chairman of the NGO Disaster Relief Forum, Ian McInnes, said refugees seen in the media were the fortunate ones en route to safer shores.
"The poorest and most desperate and vulnerable are the over four million living in refugee camps on the borders of Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. They don't have the resources to get out and make the journey," he said.
Two wheels, four wheels - anything to get to a safe haven
Just on 400km north of the Arctic Circle one of the strangest episodes of the refugee crisis enveloping Europe is being played out at a tiny frontier crossing.
At the Storskog border crossing between Norway and Russia, scores of Syrian refugees are making the last leg of an epic journey on bicycle.
So far this year about 200 Syrians have taken the Arctic route and Stein Kristian Hansen, the Norwegian police superintendent in charge of the post, told the Herald he expects more.
Ten arrived on Monday and he said the route was increasingly well known.
When the Herald visited yesterday morning the crossing was quieter and Hansen had time to show off about 65 bikes the refugees had used to complete the last leg. "We've never seen anything like this before," he said. The Syrians need a plane fare out of Syria and a visa for Russia, which still backs the Assad regime. Hansen said he doesn't know the background of those who arrive but they typically fly from Syria to the Russian city of Murmansk, about 300km to the east, and then hire cars before the last leg on two wheels.
While some younger men arrived wearing designer clothes this year, there are increasing numbers of women more in need of help.
"Some who get here are very exhausted," Hansen said.
Police take their details and they are put on planes from nearby Kirkenes to the capital, Oslo, for processing. The bikes will probably be donated to a refugee resettlement agency.
One Kirkenes resident said there were signs of the Russian mafia clipping the ticket at every leg of their journey through that country.
The refugees are forced to make the final part of the 5500km journey on bikes because Russian rules mean they have to cross the border on wheels. Russians are fearful of being charged with people smuggling if they offer them a ride so the Syrians are buying bikes for about $220 each.
Yesterday an early autumn wind was whipping in from the Barents Sea to the border post 10km inland - a sign winter is coming.
In the town's taxi office, dispatcher Roy Hagfors says the refugees would be welcome if they stayed.
"Everybody wants to help and is talking about what we can do."
He said old flats and a hotel are being scoped as possible refugee housing in the town of 5000, which is reliant on iron ore, tourism and crab fishing.
But Oerjan Nilsen, who runs a souvenir shop near the border post, has reservations.
"If they need protection that's good - if they don't that's not so good. If they're gold diggers or terrorists, no."
Immigration is a vexed issue in Norway where the oil-fuelled economy suffers from chronic labour shortages in some sectors.
Research for Oslo-based newspaper Aftenposten last week showed 63 per cent of those questioned approved of the Norwegian Government's plan to accept 8000 United Nations-registered refugees from Syria. Just on 25 per cent didn't like the idea.
In the Oslo suburb of Toyen there's a reception centre for the Syrians who are arriving at the rate of about 100 a day and a campaign to help them has been organised through Facebook. More than 20 eateries are delivering food and residents are dropping off clothes and toys as well.
Mother-of-two Linda Haavardsholm turned up in her Nissan Leaf electric car packed with baby food and clothes. "I feel a little bit guilty because I have so much of everything," she said.
The immigration issue was forced into the spotlight in 2011 when right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in a central Oslo bombing and shooting rampage on Utoya Island.
The debate about refugees is a big part of the hotly contested local body elections where voting will take place on September 14.
- Grant Bradley is in Norway with the assistance of a media travel grant from the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
Doubling of quota backed
New Zealand must double the number of refugees it accepts if there is to be a long-term benefit from the swell of support for Syrians over the past week, a psychologist told an NZME discussion yesterday.
The discussion on the refugee crisis, hosted by broadcaster Rachel Smalley, delved into topics such as the cost of settling refugees, whether New Zealand is doing enough and how to help long-term.
Labour's spokesman on foreign affairs, David Shearer, said the discussion about quotas last week was "about what it is to be a New Zealander ... compassion".
"We could have done better," he said.
The Government would not take more refugees because of "a whole bunch of bureaucratic reasons", he added.
His comments were in response to business adviser Bruce Coterrill saying New Zealand should be "looking for the right [refugees]".
"We want our leaders to make good decisions," Mr Coterrill said.
