UNHCR urges Europe to do more for Syrian refugees
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR today calls on European countries to strengthen their response to the Syrian crisis. In a new report Syrian Refugees in Europe: What Europe can do to Ensure Protection and Solidarity UNHCR is urging states to ensure access to territory, including fair and efficient asylum procedures, to provide adequate reception conditions and to actively adopt other measures which can provide protection and safety for refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.
An increasing number of Syrians are now seeking safety in countries beyond the immediate region. Many are embarking on long and dangerous journeys to reach safety and in some cases to reunite with family members already in Europe.
Since the conflict began in March 2011, some 123,600 Syrians have sought asylum in Europe, 112,170 of these in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland. Relative to the 2.9 million refugees in countries immediately neighbouring Syria these numbers remain small: Only four per cent of Syrian refugees have sought asylum in European countries, excluding Turkey, since the conflict began. Across Europe 6,400 Syrians applied for asylum in 2011; 23,400 in 2012; 51,500 in 2013 and 30,700 from January to May 2014.
In the EU, Syrian asylum-seekers are mostly concentrated in a few states: Sweden and Germany received 56 per cent of all new Syrian asylum applications and the top five receiving countries (Sweden, Germany, Bulgaria, Switzerland and the Netherlands) received almost 70 per cent.
The number of Syrians arriving to Europe by sea increased in 2013, with Syrians as one of the main nationalities of those rescued in the Mediterranean (11,307 in Italy alone in 2013).
A high number of Syrians arrive to many European States with the intention to travel onward to other destinations. Reasons behind the onward movement are diverse and complex: inadequate reception conditions, difficulties accessing the asylum procedure, family links in other countries, and better assistance and integration prospects in other countries - perceived or real.
Today's report urges countries across Europe to implement a comprehensive response based on their responsibilities under international and regional law and to clearly demonstrate solidarity with countries in the region. This includes enhancing legal ways for Syrian refugees to reach Europe.
UNHCR welcomes the positive practices of many European states in their treatment of Syrians, including the de facto moratorium on returns to Syria, access to asylum procedures in most countries and the high protection rates granted to Syrians.
The report also highlights some gaps and practices that concern UNHCR. These include pushbacks at land and sea borders which have been reported in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Albania, Montenegro, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine, slow access to effective asylum procedures, inadequate reception conditions, backlogs in asylum procedures, barriers to family reunification, the lack of mechanisms to identify and assist asylum-seekers with vulnerabilities, and use of detention.
UNHCR is encouraging countries to look at all options, including resettlement, admission programmes based on humanitarian needs, admission schemes based on private sponsorship, and the use of other legal programmes, for example student or employment visas.
UNHCR also urges states to facilitate family reunification in a pro-active manner, including for extended family members of Syrians who have already been granted some form of protection in Europe.
European countries have to date offered 31,817 places for resettlement, humanitarian and other forms of admission for refugees from Syria.
The full report is available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b69f574.html
For more information on this topic, please contact:
- In Geneva, Melissa Fleming on mobile +41 79 557 9122
- In Geneva, Dan McNorton on mobile +41 79 217 3011
- in Geneva, Adrian Edwards on mobile +41 79 557 9120
Your search for « syria » matched 4302 results. Only the first 1,000 results are displayed. Displaying page 13 of 112 pages.
-
Estonia
... In 2020, Estonia reported 49 registered asylum-seekers, the majority coming from Russia, Syria and Tajikistan. Estonia is covered by the UNHCR’s Representation for the Nordic and Baltic Countries, ...... -
UNHCR stocks new office in south Syria with aid for thousands
19 Jun 2014 ... DAMASCUS, Syria, June 19 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency has opened a field office and warehouse in ... Tarik Kurdi, UNHCR's representative in Syria, said UNHCR would now be able to distribute relief ...... -
Thousands brave freezing conditions to escape fighting in Syria and reach Lebanon
19 Nov 2013 ... ARSAL, Lebanon, November 19 (UNHCR) - Mohammed, a construction worker from the western Syria city of Homs, had been forced to flee his home six times since the Syria crisis erupted in March 2011. ...... -
Syrian refugees in Lebanon lose everything in a fire but just rebuild
15 Apr 2014 ... Within minutes that January fire had consumed 10 other tents housing refugees from Syria. Amar and ... Her seeding, planting and harvesting earns her just $5 a day. "It's still better here than in Syria,...... -
Higher education programme helps refugees in Syria continue studies
22 Dec 2014 ... DAMASCUS, Syria, December 22 (UNHCR) - Excelling at high school is no easy task for teenagers. But for Fatima, an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee student living in Syria, it has been harder than most. Amid ...... -
UNHCR's protection chief sees key role in future for Syrian refugee women
4 Dec 2013 ... to play in Syria's future, UNHCR's protection chief Volker Türk told a conference in London on Wednesday. "Despite the conflict, horrors and human rights abuses they have escaped in Syria, refugee ...... -
Born in exile, Syrian children face threat of statelessness
4 Nov 2014 ... Rasha* gave birth to her twin girls in Jordan, after fleeing from Syria alone and pregnant. Her husband Sayid was arrested in Syria after refusing compulsory military service, and she has heard no ...... -
Syria to admit nearly 200 Palestinians stranded on the Iraq-Jordan border
25 Apr 2006 ... welcomed an announcement by the government of Syria to admit 181 Palestinians who fled Baghdad in ... The group will be accepted into Syria under the auspices of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), ...... -
More than four million Syrians have now fled war and persecution
9 Jul 2015 ... July 9) put the total number of refugees from Syria to just over 4,013,000 people. "This is the ... At least an additional 7.6 million people are displaced inside Syria -- many of them in difficult ......