As the humanitarian crisis in Syria's Idlib province deteriorates further, a representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that countries in the region need to keep their borders open to refugees.
The comments come as 13,000 migrants have amassed at the Turkish-Greek border after Ankara announced last week it would no longer stop those trying to reach Europe from crossing the frontier.
The suspension of the 2016 EU-Turkey migrant deal, through which Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government took in four million Syrian refugees and migrants headed for Europe, has led to violent clashes at the border.
Greek anti-riot police gather migrants and refugees from the Moria camp who stayed outside the port of Mytilene. /Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP
"Well, it's obviously extremely complicated and an extremely alarming situation. Ourselves and our partners are very concerned about the images that we've seen," Matthew Saltmarsh, a senior communications officer at the UNHCR told CGTN Europe in London on Wednesday.
"States do have a right to control irregular migration, but what we say is that refugees, those who are seeking international protection, also have the right to go into countries to find that protection."
He added: "So, we're saying to countries across the region, 'keep your borders open, establish robust asylum systems that allow those who are genuine refugees to find that protection that they can.'"
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The mix of origins of the migrants currently waiting at the Greece-Turkey frontier has caused a particular public-relations headache for EU and Greek security services.
While countries are legally obliged to accept and process those seeking asylum, so-called economic migrants are not extended the same rights.
"Obviously the situation is extremely complicated, because you have a mixture of both migrants, economic migrants, and refugees, who are moving en masse in the region and it's a stark reminder, I think, to Europe that conflict and precarity [not just] in the Middle East, but in other parts of the developing world, has a direct impact on Europe," said Saltmarsh.
"What we're trying to do with our partners, which included the Turkish Red Crescent, IOM, UNICEF as well, is to be on the ground to monitor the situation to provide what relief we can," he added.
Migrants hold their babies as they try to warm themselves next to a river in Edirne, Turkey, near the Turkey-Greece border. /Darko Bandic/AP
But the UNHCR is also attempting to warn migrants about what they will find once they cross into Europe
"Part of that advice is saying, if you're trying to get into Greece, the conditions which you'll find on the other side of the border are not necessarily going to be better than what you're experiencing right now. Because, as you know, Greece has its own crisis, its own situation on the islands, which are very overcrowded and the government are is struggling with the influx," says Saltmarsh.
Money is a particular problem. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU would provide Greece with "all the support needed" and grant Athens $780 million of aid to manage the migrant flashpoint at its frontier with Turkey.
"Well, we know that Europe has announced extra funds just recently and obviously that's positive. But overall, obviously the situation requires much more, it requires more international support. If you take the Syria appeal from UNHCR, from my agency, we're seeking a couple of billion dollars and that's only nine percent funded," says Saltmarsh.
But with all eyes on the COVID-19 crisis, for Saltmarsh "the underlying root causes of displacement of people moving, of people taking dangerous journeys, have not really been addressed."
He added: "That, for us, is the biggest priority: to get the international community to find peaceful solutions to conflict and to address those root causes that are causing people to leave their homes and to try to find a better life elsewhere."