3Numbers and origin of refugees and migrants
Refugees and asylum seekers
36.It is difficult to know exactly how many migrants and refugees have entered Europe in the recent past but one measure is the number of applications for asylum. The most common nationalities applying for asylum in 2015 are shown in the Table below.
Table 2: First time asylum seekers by citizenship in Europe in 2015
|
Country of citizenship |
Number of applicants |
|
Syria |
362,775 |
|
Afghanistan |
178,230 |
|
Iraq |
121,535 |
|
Kosovo |
66,885 |
|
Albania |
65,935 |
|
Pakistan |
46,400 |
|
Eritrea |
33,095 |
|
Nigeria |
29,915 |
|
Iran |
25,360 |
|
Other |
325,510 |
|
Total |
1,255,640 |
Source: Eurostat Asylum in the EU Members States March 2016.
37.The UK received 41,563 asylum applications in the year to March 2016. The largest number came from nationals of Iran (4,811), followed by Pakistan (3,511), Iraq (3,374), Eritrea (3,340) and Afghanistan (3,133). 2,235 Syrian nationals were granted asylum or protection, with a further 1,667 granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.45 We discuss Syrian refugees in more detail in Chapter 4.
38.The country where individuals enter the EU is not necessarily the same as the country where they make their application. The table below shows the number of asylum applications in each EU member state in 2014 and 2015.
Table 3: First time asylum applications in EU Member States
|
Country |
Number of first time applicants |
% share in EU total |
||
|
2014 |
2015 |
% change |
2015 |
|
|
Belgium |
14,045 |
38,990 |
+178% |
3.1% |
|
Bulgaria |
10,805 |
20,165 |
+87% |
1.6% |
|
Denmark |
14,535 |
20,825 |
+43% |
1.7% |
|
Germany |
172,945 |
441,800 |
+155% |
35.2% |
|
Ireland |
1,440 |
3,270 |
+127% |
0.3% |
|
Greece |
7,585 |
11,370 |
+50% |
0.9% |
|
Spain |
5,460 |
14,600 |
+167% |
1.2% |
|
France |
58,845 |
70,570 |
+20% |
5.6% |
|
Italy |
63,655 |
83,245 |
+31% |
6.6% |
|
Hungary |
41,215 |
174,435 |
+323% |
13.9% |
|
Netherlands |
21,780 |
43,035 |
+98% |
3.4% |
|
Austria |
25,675 |
85,505 |
+233% |
6.8% |
|
Finland |
3,490 |
32,150 |
+822% |
2.6% |
|
Sweden |
74,980 |
156,110 |
+108% |
12.4% |
|
UK |
32,120 |
38,370 |
+19% |
3.1% |
|
EU total |
562,680 |
1,255,640 |
+123% |
100% |
Source: Eurostat News Release, 4 March 2016, Asylum in the EU Members States
The numbers applying for asylum in the UK remain relatively low: in the year ending June 2015, the UK received 4% of all asylum claims made in the EU.46
Migration routes through the Mediterranean
39.Migration into Europe is by no means a new phenomenon, but the routes have changed in recent times and the numbers trying to enter have vastly increased.47 Instability has increased in North Africa and the Middle East since 2000, with wars in Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011) and Syria (2011), as well as the repercussions of the Arab Spring, beginning in Tunisia in 2011.
40.Routes from Albania to Italy, Morocco to Spain, and West Africa to the Canary Islands have been popular since the early 1990s. Libya has become a key departure point for migrants from many parts of Africa across the Mediterranean towards Europe.48 The tightening of controls on routes via the western and central Mediterranean resulted in migrants moving further east, with the most common routes becoming North Africa to Italy, and from Turkey to Greece, then up through the Balkan states to northern Europe.49 The graphic below shows the main migrant, and migrant smuggling, routes into and through Europe.
Source: Europol, Migrant smuggling in the EU, February 2016
41.During the first six months of 2015, 68,000 people used the route across the eastern Mediterranean, overtaking the 67,500 taking the central Mediterranean route to Italy. The main nationalities using the eastern Mediterranean route during that period were Syrian (57%), Afghans (22%) and Iraqis (5%).50 The flow of people did not reduce over winter. In the short period between 1 January and 10 February 2016, over 77,000 people arrived in Greece by sea, 47% of whom were Syrian.51 The Archbishop of Canterbury has described the flow of migrants as “colossal” and said that “this is one of the greatest movements of people in human history. Just enormous.”52
42.In the single month of October 2015, 210,000 people arrived in Greece. At one point, nearly 8,000 people arrived on the Aegean islands in one day. The Greek authorities are responsible for the refugees and migrants who arrive in their territory, but processing the numbers involved has proved to be very difficult. Greece does not have the infrastructure or reception facilities in place to deal with them, not least because they generally arrive on sparsely populated islands.53 The UNHCR is one of many organisations that has been working with the local authority on Lesbos to provide accommodation, interpretation services, clean water and sanitation, and services for women and children. UNHCR activity on Lesbos represents 40% of the UNHCR budget for Greece.54
43.Mr Khalid Chaouki, a Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, told us that no single country could manage the challenge alone, and believed that it was “unfair” to ask a country in difficulty, such as Greece, to face the situation on its own.55 It was reported that Italy had spent €1.16 billion accommodating 99,000 refugees in 2015—a cost of about €11,700 per refugee per year.56 Mr Bikas Konstantinos, the Greek Ambassador to the UK, told us in November that Greece, a country with a population of 11 million, was hosting two million refugees and migrants. This had cost Greece more than €2 billion to date.57 Estimates for 2016 indicate that Greece will spend at least €600 million to house 40,000 recently arrived refugees—a cost of €15,000 per migrant.58
44.Most migrants arriving in Italy or Greece do not want to stay there. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that most Syrians, Eritreans and Sudanese travel on from Italy within 48 hours of arrival. Over 390,000 migrants and asylum seekers were registered as arriving in Hungary from other arrival points in 2015. Between 1 January and 10 February 2016, 85,215 people were registered entering Croatia. As the number of migrants has increased, the response from transit countries has become harsher. In early 2016 many countries responded to the migrant flows by building fences (including Hungary), or by either closing borders completely, or imposing very small quotas on crossings. For example, in February, Austria said it would allow a daily quota of 3,200 migrants to cross from Slovenia.59
45.Most significantly, the recent EU-Turkey agreement on return of migrants is already having a dramatic impact on the routes being used by migrants: the number of migrants arriving in Greece in April 2016 dropped by 90% compared to March. Another factor contributing to the huge reduction in the numbers of migrants using routes via Greece is Macedonia’s closure of its border with Greece, also in March this year. This has prevented migrants travelling on to northern Europe, leaving them stranded on Greece’s northern border.60 The makeshift Idomeni camp on the Greek side of the border was then dismantled in May, with the estimated 8,400 migrants being moved to designated processing facilities near Thessaloniki.61
46.Migration into Europe has been a long-standing challenge for EU countries, including the UK. However, the situation has now become a crisis, in large part because of the Syrian war, and the continuing instability in Libya and other parts of north Africa. Although current migration flows are a continuation of patterns that have ebbed and changed over many years, the current numbers of people seeking to move into Europe are unprecedented in modern times. The Archbishop of Canterbury has described the scale of the crisis as “colossal”. Syrian refugees present the most acute and numerous challenge, but there are other countries from which migrants continue to flow in large numbers.
47.The EU and its Member States failed to anticipate the scale of migrant flows, and did not have the structures and mechanisms in place to cope. As a result, the EU has been too slow to respond in a coordinated way. The EU’s March 2016 agreement with Turkey on return of migrants is arguably a first step towards a meaningful response but it has come far too late and is itself highly controversial for a number of reasons. Further action is urgently required to ensure that vulnerable people seeking refuge do not suffer further exploitation by criminals, accompanied by fear, harm and the current high risk of death.
45 ONS, Migration Statistics Quarterly Report, May 2016
49 Migration Policy Centre report: When the best option is a leaky boat, October 2014
50 UNHCR, The sea route to Europe: Mediterranean passage in the age of refugees, July 2015
52 Interviews in The House Magazine, 10 March 2016. See also oral evidence taken on 7 June 2016, Q1
53 Oral evidence taken on 24 November 2015, Qs168 and 173; International Rescue Committee written evidence (MIG0064). See also UNHCR briefing note, 20 October 2015; and IoM Missing Migrants Project
54 UNHCR update, 6 November 2015
55 Oral evidence taken on 26 January 2016, Qs214 and 217
56 Reuters, 21 October 2015, “Italy relocates 70 refugees as costs to house migrants double”
57 Oral evidence taken on 24 November 2015, Q162
58 Greek Reporter, 14 March 2016, “Migrant crisis will cost Greece more than original estimate of 600 million euros”
60 Frontex news release, 13 May 2016, “Number of migrants arriving in Greece dropped 90% in April”
61 BBC News website, 24 May 2016, Greece moves thousands of migrants from Idomeni camp
© Parliamentary copyright 2015
28 July 2016