Key Figures
Mediterranean
215,380 arrivals by sea in 2016*
2,868 dead/missing in 2016*
* data.unhcr.org/mediterranean as of 22 June 2016
Trends on sea arrivals
Between 13 and 19 June, some 405 refugees and migrants arrived by sea in Greece. This is a slight increase from the previous week when 358 people arrived to the Greek shores. For the fourth time in the last ten days, there were 40-60 daily new arrivals to Samos.
During the same period, 3,549 persons arrived by sea in Italy, as result of nine disembarkation events and two spontaneous arrivals. This compares to 3,992 arrivals in the week before. New arrivals continue to mainly come from sub-Saharan countries.
To date in 2016, some 215,380 people have arrived to Europe by sea, including 157,801 in Greece (as of 19 June), some 56,227 in Italy (as of 19 June) and some 1,352 in Spain (as of 30 April). So far in June 2016, there have been some 5,805 arrivals as compared with 54,588 arrivals in June 2015.
Key developments
Global Trends
According to the Global Trends report released on 20 June by UNHCR, wars and persecution have driven more people from their homes than at any time since UNHCR records began. On average 24 people were forced to flee each minute in 2015, four times more than a decade earlier, when six people fled every 60 seconds. The detailed study found a total 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just 12 months earlier.
While the spotlight was on Europe’s challenge to manage more than 1 million refugees and migrants who arrived via the Mediterranean last year, the report shows that the vast majority of the world’s refugees were in developing countries. In all, 86 per cent of the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate in 2015 were in low-and middle-income countries close to situations of conflict. Worldwide, Turkey was the largest host country, with 2.5 million refugees. With nearly one refugee for every five citizens, Lebanon hosted more refugees compared to its population than any other country.
Pre-registration exercise on mainland Greece
The pre-registration exercise launched on 8 June by the Greek Asylum Service, with UNHCR and EASO’s support, continued smoothly. The exercise aims to preregister applications for international protection from the approximately 49,000 people currently residing on the Greek mainland, as well as to pre-identify potential candidates for family reunification or relocation to another EU Member State for those qualifying. As of 19 June, a total of 7,247 people were pre-registered and 8,728 people received a wrist-band to prepare for their pre-registration in the following days. Over 233 unaccompanied children and 91 separated children were identified during the exercise since 8 June and rapid best interest assessments were conducted.
Visit of the UN Secretary General to Greece
UN Secretary General (SG), Ban Ki-moon, visited Greece between 17 and 19 June, accompanied by a delegation of 17 UN officials, including UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Volker Türk. He thanked the Greek authorities for handling the refugees with humanism and solidarity in line with the principles of the UN. During his visit to Lesvos, he met with Greek volunteers and organizations, visited Moria Registration and Information centre and the Kara Tepe accommodation site. In his public remarks at the conclusion of his visit, the SG reiterated that “the United Nations is doing all we can to mobilize support” and called for greater sharing of responsibility across Europe and the whole world “to respond with a humane and human rights-based approach”.
He commended “the Greek authorities, the people of Lesvos and the humanitarian community” for working non-stop to save lives and secure the future of refugees, showing commendable “philoxenia” (the Greek word for “friendship towards strangers”) and solidarity.
Update on returns, relocation and resettlement
According to the Greek Asylum Service, a total of 4,851 relocation requests have been submitted as of 13 June. In addition, 200 new relocation pledges from Slovenia and 400 from France were received.
On 13 June, two people were transferred from Italy to Malta, while on 16 June four people were relocated to Cyprus and eight to Portugal. So far, 1,682 asylumseekers have been relocated from Greece and 789 from Italy to 19 EU Member States and Switzerland (European Commission data, as of 20 June. See here for additional details).
On 16 June, six people from Algeria were returned from Lesvos to Dikili, Turkey, within the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, after voluntarily withdrawing their asylum applications in Greece. So far, 468 people have been returned from Greece to Turkey under the Greece-Turkey Bilateral Readmission Agreement. The main nationalities included Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, India, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine and Algeria. 31 Syrian nationals have voluntarily returned to date.
According to the Vatican Press Office, the Vatican Gendarmeria, with the help of Interior Ministry of Greece, the Greek Asylum Service and the Sant'Egidio Community, accompanied nine Syrian refugees, who were staying on Lesvos, to Rome on 16 June. The Sant'Egidio Community will provide for their housing. Pope Francis had already accompanied three refugee families to Rome after his visit to Lesvos on 16 April.