Combined Monthly Europe Population Movement Operations Update
A. Highlights
The Italy: Population Movement appeal has been revised with an increased budget of 9,495,715 Swiss francs which includes search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean. The Italian Red Cross is teaming up with independent charity Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) on a joint life-saving mission in the Mediterranean.
Although many countries in the Balkans report very small numbers of new registrations, the reports of detentions in alternative routes, such as Albania, as well the continue registrations of new arrivals in Austria indicates that the region is still being used for transiting.
In the past weeks an increase number of people are arriving to the border of Serbia with Hungary, were now some 780 people are camping in informal camps with very precarious living conditions.
With this operations update, the timeframe of this appeal is being extended from 31 December 2016 to 31 March 2017 in order to support the smooth transition from emergency response to long-term planning, particularly in relation to protection and integration objectives
Latest developments on migration in Europe
According to latest available figures from the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) there are currently an estimated 3.1 million foreign nationals in the country seeking international protection. Most of them are Syrians (2,733,044 people), who are granted temporary protection status, while according to UNHCR, 271,466 asylum applicants from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia constitute another significant group of foreign nationals requiring Turkish humanitarian and legal protection. Most of the Syrians, approximate 2,476,744 people live outside camps officially called Temporary Accommodation Centres (TACs) and are spread across the Turkish border provinces of Sanliurfa,
Gaziantep, Hatay and Kilis. There are 256,300 Syrians living in 26 camps that are located close to the Syrian border.
On 18 March, EU and Turkey agreed on the readmission of migrants arriving in Greece to Turkey after 20 March 2016. According to the DGMM and to European Commission reports, 468 migrants and refugees have been readmitted to Turkey from Greece between 4 April and 13 July 2016.