Daily Report
Arrivals and Departures
423 Afghan and Iraqi nationals were registered with UNHCR in Turkey between 27-28 April. According to media sources, 221 people were apprehended and/or rescued at Turkey’s land and sea borders between 28-29 April. To date, the number of people returned from Greece is 385 whilst those readmitted through the land border with Greece to Turkey are reported to total 322 people.
The 12 Syrian nationals who were returned to Turkey from Greece on 27 April, were transferred from Adana to Duzici camp in Osmaniye province.
Death at Sea
An infant may have been among those believed to have drowned in two separate shipwrecks off the Libyan coast this weekend, according to survivors who arrived in Italy. 27 survivors were rescued by a commercial vessel after a rubber dinghy in which they were travelling sank in the Mediterranean on 30 April, a few hours after departing from Sabratha, Libya.
They were transferred to Italian coastguard ships before being brought ashore to Lampedusa.
Condition of People
According to the Eurostat report released on 2 May, 88,300 unaccompanied children have applied for international protection in the EU Member States in 2015. This represents a quadruple increase when compared to 2014 when approximately 23,000 unaccompanied children (UAC) applied for international protection. Over half of the asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied children were Afghan nationals (51%). Of the 45,300 Afghan nationals considered to be unaccompanied children, more than half were registered in Sweden (23,400). Syrian nationals (16% of the total number of UAC) were the second largest group of asylum seekers considered to be UAC in the EU Member States in 2015.
According to Eurostat, in Italy, the number of first time asylum applications during the first two months of 2016 stands at 15,025. Those arriving to the Italian shores in the first months of 2016 originate from Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, Mali, Morocco, Sudan and Eritrea. The number of those of Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian nationality remain below 1 % of sea arrivals.
In Italy, four hotspots are officially operational with a temporary accommodation capacity of 1,600. It is foreseen that further facilities may be developed in the coming period with the aim of increasing the reception capacity to 2,500.
Reception conditions at the Lampedusa hotspot remain poor.
Due to overcrowding, some recent arrivals, including women (among which were children and 3 pregnant women) remained outside overnight despite cold weather conditions. UNHCR also reported ongoing shortfalls of the camp management in the delivery of basic services to the Ministry of Interior.
