UNHCR: Over one million sea arrivals reach Europe in 2015

LESVOS Greece 30th December 2015 (WAM)Over one million refugees and migrants have fled to Europe by sea this year many on board dangerously inadequate vessels run by people smugglers according to figures released by the UN Refugee Agency.

UNHCR's latest figures show that some 1000573 people had reached Europe across the Mediterranean mainly to Greece and Italy in 2015. Of these 3735 were missing believed drowned.

The landmark figure which was reached late on December 29 also indicated that 84 per cent of those arriving in Europe came from the world's top 10 refugee producing countries strengthening UNHCR's belief that most of the people arriving in Europe were fleeing war and persecution.

"Why is it that a million people have to enter Europe by smugglers boat? The scale of these sea crossings the fact that people continue to arrive daily in their thousands on the Aegean islands and that nearly 4000 lives have been lost in 2015 all beg that question" said senior UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.

"There are abundant regular safe and legal means of managing this and they need serious looking at" he added. UNHCR has urged both people and governments to intensify efforts to facilitate legal entry routes to Europe.

In addition to the sea crossings recent figures also estimated that a further 34000 have crossed from Turkey into Bulgaria and Greece by land.

The number of people displaced by war and conflict is currently the highest seen in Western and Central Europe since the Balkan crises of the 1990s when several conflicts broke out in the former Yugoslavia.

One-in-every-two of those crossing the Mediterranean this yearhalf a million peoplewere Syrians escaping the war in their country. Afghans accounted for 20 per cent and Iraqis for seven per cent.

"As anti-foreigner sentiments escalate in some quarters it is important to recognize the positive contributions that refugees and migrants make to the societies in which they live and also honour core European values: protecting lives upholding human rights and promoting tolerance and diversity" said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant?nio Guterres.

Over 800000 refugees and migrants came via the Aegean Sea from Turkey into Greece accounting for 80 per cent of the people arriving irregularly in Europe by sea this year. At the same time the number of people crossing from North Africa into Italy dropped slightly from 170000 in 2014 to around 150000 in 2015.

The number of people crossing the Mediterranean increased steadily from around 5500 in January to reach a monthly peak in October of over 221000.

After an initial chaotic reaction which resulted in tens of thousands of people moving from Greece through the Western Balkans and northwards and finding themselves blocked at various borders a more coordinated European response is beginning to take shape.

UNHCR launched an emergency response to support and complement European efforts. Over 600 emergency staff and resources were deployed to 20 different locations providing life-saving assistance and protection and advocating for human rights and access to asylumparticularly for refugees with specific needs such as unaccompanied children and women-headed households.

Much more needs to be done however to reinforce the required reception capacity at the points of entry to allow for the humane and effective accommodation assistance registration and screening of people arriving every dayto identify those who are in need of protection those that should be relocated to other countries within the European Union and those who do not qualify for refugee protection and for whom effective and dignified return mechanisms have to be put in place.

At the same time UNHCR continues to call for safe regular ways for refugees to find safety through more resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes more flexible visa arrangements more private sponsorship programmes and other possibilities.