UNHCR urges Europeans to do more for Syrian refugees

UNHCR today called 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 look at other programmes 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 based in Europe.
Since the conflict began in 2011, some 123,600 Syrians have sought asylum in Europe, 112,170 in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland. Out of this total, 4,084 Syrians applied for asylum in the UK.
Compared with some 2.9 million refugees in the countries neighbouring Syria the numbers in Europe remain small. Only four percent of Syrians 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.
“The situation in the region is dramatic as Syria continues to haemorrage men, women and children on a massive scale and capacities of the neighbouring countries are now stretched beyond the breaking point,” said Roland Schilling, UNHCR Representative to the United Kingdom. “International solidarity and burden sharing is now an imperative if we want to ease the suffering of Syrian refugees, assist the neighbouring countries and avoid further destabilization of the region.”
“UK has been a generous donor to international humanitarian response to Syrian refugee crisis. The government has also set up its own Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme for Syrian refugees. But, this is an extraordinary crisis requiring extraordinary measures.”
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).
Today’s report urges countries across Europe to implement a long-term response based on their responsibilities under international law and to clearly demonstrate solidarity with countries in the region.
UNHCR welcomes the positive practices of many European states in their treatment of Syrians, including the de facto moratoria on returns to Syria, access to 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, humanitarian admission, admission schemes based on private sponsorship, and the use of other legal programmes, for example student or employment visas.
In September 2013, UNHCR called upon countries to admit 30,000 Syrian refugees on resettlement, humanitarian admission, or other programmes from 2013 to 2014, with a focus on protecting the most vulnerable. In February UNHCR expanded this call, asking states to make multi-annual commitments towards a goal of providing resettlement and other forms of admission for an additional 100,000 Syrian refugees in 2015 and 2016.
“We are optimistic that the UK will also respond to our appeal. Resettlement is not only an instrument of protection, it is also a solution for vulnerable Syrian refugees and a concrete act of solidarity with the neighbouring countries sheltering already more than 2.9 million refugees,” said Roland Schilling.
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.