Annexes to COM(2017)74 - Ninth report on relocation and resettlement - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2017)74 - Ninth report on relocation and resettlement. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2017)74  |
| date | February 8, 2017 |
• European Asylum Support Office
Actions to speed up the relocation process and increase the registration capacity in Greece and Italy: On 20 and 22 December 2016 EASO signed new Operating Plans for 2017 with Greece and Italy respectively. The Operating Plans outline all support activities to Greece and Italy for implementation in 2017. Besides the support to the relocation scheme, the Operating Plans cover support measures to the general asylum procedure, including the Dublin procedure, the reception system, and for Greece, support for the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement.
In Greece, as of 6 February, the EASO teams supporting the Greek Asylum Service for registration and further processing consist of 8 experts in Thessaloniki 32 and the escalation desk consists of 5 experts in Athens. Moreover, EASO has deployed 4 experts for information provision in Athens and Thessaloniki, another 2 Dublin experts in support of the Dublin Unit and 40 interpreters. EASO has also delivered fully equipped mobile offices to the Greek Asylum Service in Thessaloniki to further support the relocation registration procedure. These mobile offices will make it possible to merge the registration procedures of Thessaloniki and Alexandroupoli to further increase the efficiency of the procedure, allowing EASO to deploy up to 12 registration experts in Thessaloniki.
Following the kick-off meeting in November, EASO is now together with the Greek Asylum Service piloting a matching tool: the functional requirements are defined, registration fields in the Greek database Alkyoni and corresponding registration forms are being adapted, the matching algorithm is being refined for testing, and the communication of data between Alkyoni database and the matching tool is being developed. A first usable interface of the matching tool is expected to be ready by February 2017.
In Italy, EASO is as of 6 February deploying 48 out of the 72 requested experts from Member States and Associated Countries: 9 experts in the hotspots, 9 experts in two mobile teams (based in Rome and Catania), 16 experts in registration Hubs, 7 experts in the registration mobile team, and 7 experts in the Dublin Unit in Rome. EASO is also deploying up to 43 cultural mediators (for Arabic, Tigrinya and Kurdish) to support the relocation process. In the reporting period EASO has intensified the activities of the mobile team that performs registration for relocation in various locations where candidates for relocation are accommodated (based on needs indicated by the Italian authorities) outside of registration Hubs. 33 The mobile team also supports the local Questura by building the capacity of Police officers in performing registrations themselves.
3Resettlement
Based on the information received from the participating States more than half of the 22,504 resettlements agreed under the Conclusions of 20 July 2015 have been completed. Since 6 December 2016, 913 34 people have been resettled mainly from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. As of 6 February 2017, 13,968 people have been resettled to 21 resettling States (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Netherlands as well as Associated Countries Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland have already fulfilled their pledges. Despite an overall positive outlook, Member States who have not yet resettled under the Conclusions of 20 July 2015 and those who are still far away from reaching their target should step up their efforts.
A majority of States participating in the scheme indicated that their resettlement efforts were primarily, but not exclusively, directed at Syrians staying in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. This includes efforts from Member States to resettle Syrians from Turkey under the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016.
The number of resettlements from Turkey continues to increase. Member States are advancing well with preparing further resettlement operations, including missions to Turkey to interview resettlement candidates. The Turkish authorities are delivering on their promise to step up efforts to provide larger lists of referrals. Lists for a total of 10,000 persons were submitted in January 2017.
Since 4 April 2016, 3,098 Syrians have been resettled from Turkey under the resettlement part of the 1:1 scheme of the EU-Turkey Statement. Altogether, 487 people were resettled under this mechanism since the last reporting period and the remaining number of all pledges is 10,402. Resettlements under 1:1 scheme have so far taken place to Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Additionally, Norway has so far resettled 150 Syrians from Turkey since 4 April. 35
As previously reported, Council Decision (EU) 2016/1754 36 amending the second Council Decision on relocation has been adopted. The amendment allows Member States to meet their respective obligations under the 54,000 allocation by using either relocation or legal admission of Syrian nationals present in Turkey. The amendment requires modification to the AMIF National Programmes. As an immediate follow-up to the adoption of the Council Decision (EU) 2016/1754, and as part of the exercise to amend AMIF National Programmes the Commission has received first indications from Member States on the number of Syrians present in Turkey to whom the Member States plan to grant legal admission under this Decision. From those indications received so far, Member States plan to admit from Turkey over 34,000 Syrians on this basis, including via resettlement.
The Commission's proposal for a regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework 37 adopted on 13 July 2016 is currently being examined by the co-legislators.
4Way forward
The Heads of State or Government have repeatedly recognised the urgent need to address Europe's migratory situation and have called for further action to accelerate the implementation of the relocation scheme, as an essential expression of solidarity towards frontline Member States. In December 2016, the European Council reiterated once more the need for Member States to further intensify efforts to accelerate relocation and endorsed the Joint Action Plan to accelerate the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement which included the specific relocation target for Greece.
This call from the European Council comes against a background of mixed results over the reporting period. Achieving the targets of at least 1,000 persons relocated from Italy and at least 2,000 persons from Greece every month is possible if all Member States now start pledging and relocating on a monthly basis. A number of Member States and Associated Countries are leading the way, delivering on their legal obligations and thereby applying solidarity in practice and the other Member States should follow their example. All Member States also need to nominate more experts to respond to EASO's various calls on a regular basis, ensuring longer deployments and more senior and specialised profiles. These common efforts will help alleviate the pressure on Italy and Greece.
The Commission will continue to closely monitor the situation and engage with Member States in finding the most effective way to fully implement the two Council Decisions on relocation. In parallel, Member States should continue delivering on their resettlement commitments, and in some cases step up their efforts, including as part of the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. 38 The Commission will continue reporting on a regular basis and will present its Tenth Report in March 2017.
(1)
COM(2016) 791 final.
(2)
The number of detections of illegal border-crossings between border crossing points reported by Greece from Turkey through sea and land borders from 5 December 2016 until 5 February 2017 as recorded in Joint Operations Reporting Applications.
(3)
Source: Greek authorities.
(4)
Source: Italian Ministry of the Interior covering from 5 December 2016 until 5 February 2017.
(5)
Currently the nationalities eligible for relocation are: Burundi, Eritrea, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Syria and Yemen. As mentioned in previous reports, although some nationalities are no longer eligible for relocation, this does not affect those already identified as persons in possible need for international protection (e.g., those pre-registered can still be relocated).
(6)
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/12/15-euco-conclusions-final/.
(7)
Nine transfers reported as relocation transfers in previous reports proved to be Dublin transfers and not relocation cases (four cases from Italy to Portugal in December 2015 and April 2016; one case from Italy to the Netherlands in November 2016; one case from Greece to Luxembourg in June 2016, one case from Greece to France in June 2016 and two cases from Greece to Romania in August 2016). These have therefore been discounted from the total and from the specific Member States' transfers reported in the Annexes. In addition, during this reporting period, one case from Greece to Spain in December 2016 and one from Greece to Norway in January 2017 were also Dublin transfers and therefore have not been counted in the totals for those countries.
(8)
Conclusions of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on resettling through multilateral and national scheme 20,000 persons in clear need of international protection (11130/15).
(9)
The figure published in the previous report had to be adjusted due to updated information subsequently received from the resettling states. Instead of 13,887 resettlements reported, the correct number of people resettled by 5 December 2016 was 13,055.
(10)
SN 38/16, 18.03.2016.
(11)
The figure published in the previous report had to be adjusted to reflect the fact that resettlements of Syrians from Turkey to Norway in the context of the 1:1 scheme is not counted against returns of Syrians from Greece.
(12)
http://asylo.gov.gr/en/?p=1974
(13)
Article 2(l) of the Qualification Directive (Directive 2011/95/EU) defines "unaccompanied minor" as a minor (under 18 years old) who arrives on the territory of the Member States unaccompanied "by an adult responsible for him or her whether by law or by the practice of the Member State concerned" [emphasis added]. As a consequence of the differences in law and practice among Member States, the definition of unaccompanied minors varies from Member State to Member State which makes that separated children, including minors married to adults, be considered unaccompanied in some Member States while not in others. These also creates inconsistencies in the reporting of total number of unaccompanied minors relocated since some Member States only consider as such those on their own and exclude from the reporting separated children relocated.
(14)
Only nationalities potentially eligible for relocation mentioned.
(15)
http://asylo.gov.gr/en/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Preregistration-data_template_5_EN_EXTERNAL.pdf .
(16)
The biggest group of unaccompanied minors in Greece are Afghans, who are not eligible for relocation. However, the Greek government is in contact with several Member States to negotiate a possible voluntary transfer of these minors with a different status, other than as applicants for international protection.
(17)
The 2016 Fundamental Rights Agency' Report on separated children provides data on Member States legal provisions and treatment with respect to migrant minors' married. See in particular Table 1, page 11 of the Report, available at http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-december-2016-monthly-migration-report-separated-childr.pdf
(18)
The Greek authorities and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) do not use the same definition of unaccompanied minors; as a consequence figures reported by the Greek authorities and IOM differ. According to IOM data, the total number of minors relocated during the reporting period is 51.
(19)
934 to Germany, 13 to Cyprus, 21 to Estonia, 355 to France, 171 to Ireland, 48 to Latvia, 10 to Liechtenstein, 44 to Lithuania, 29 to Luxembourg, 172 to the Netherlands, 184 to Norway, 231 to Portugal, 26 to Romania, 252 to Spain, 18 to Finland and 50 to Switzerland.
(20)
493 to Germany, 1 Latvia, 21 to Luxembourg, 92 to the Netherlands, 335 to Norway, 10 to Portugal, 2 to Romania, 94 to Spain and 207 to Switzerland.
(21)
Germany 1,000 for Italy and 1,000 for Greece, Belgium 35 for Italy and 65 for Greece, Estonia 58 for Greece, France 50 for Italy and 400 for Greece, Croatia 20 for Italy and 30 for Greece, Ireland 80 for Greece, Latvia 30 for Italy and 60 for Greece, Lithuania 10 for Italy and 40 for Greece, Luxembourg 50 for Greece, Malta 15 for Greece, the Netherlands 100 for Italy and 200 for Greece, Slovenia, 15 for Italy and 35 for Greece, and Finland 50 for Italy and 100 for Greece.
(22)
Norway 250 for Italy and 200 for Greece and Switzerland 200 for Italy and 320 for Greece.
(23)
In accordance with Council Decision 2016/408 of 10 March 2016, Austria benefits from a temporary suspension of the relocation of up to 30% of applicants allocated to Austria under Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601. As a consequence, the relocation to Austria of 1,065 applicants shall be suspended until 11 March 2017. However, the obligations under Decision 2015/1601 continue to apply to Austria in respect of the relocation of the remaining allocation, so pledges and relocations are still required.
(24)
In early April, Poland suspended the processing of 73 relocation requests that the Greek Asylum Service sent to Poland on the basis of a pledge that Poland submitted on 16 December 2015 thus de facto freezing the relocation procedure three and a half months after the submission of the pledge. The same applies to requests from Italy.
(25)
Of an overall need of 193 experts as foreseen in the new Operating Plan.
(26)
The Greek Asylum Service made an additional request for two Dublin experts for the Dublin Unit to the extent they are available.
(27)
This figure includes the places provided under the UNHCR rental scheme capacity and the organised reception places provided by the Greek authorities in mainland Greece and at the hotspots.
http://mindigital.gr/images/prosfygiko/REFUGEE_FLOWS-07-02-2017.pdf
(28)
The Delegation Agreement reached with UNHCR for the 20,000 places rental scheme in January 2016 primarily benefits asylum seekers eligible for relocation. The Delegation Agreement was revised in July 2016 in order to make it clearer in the text that the accommodation scheme includes also the possibility to establish places in relocation sites managed by UNHCR, and that the target group of the accommodation scheme includes not only relocation candidates but also other asylum seekers. UNHCR agreed to make 6,000 places from the rental scheme available to relocation centres to accommodate all fully registered relocation applicants.
(29)
UNHCR data: 393 places for unaccompanied children are funded by other donors.
(30)
309 places for unaccompanied minors are funded by other donors.
(31)
http://www.libertaciviliimmigrazione.dlci.interno.gov.it/sites/default/files/allegati/hotspots_sops_-_english_version.pdf .
(32)
The Greek Asylum Service has rescheduled the registrations planned in Alexandroupoli in the office of Thessaloniki as of 6 February.
(33)
To date, the team has covered 26 locations all over Italy.
(34)
The figure published in the previous report had to be adjusted due to updated information subsequently received from the resettling states. Instead of 13,887 resettlements reported, the correct number of people resettled by 5 December 2016 was 13,055.
(35)
Although Norway applies the standard operating procedures for resettlement agreed with Turkey in the ambit of the 1:1 scheme, the number of resettlements to Norway in the context of the 1:1 scheme is not counted against returns of Syrians from Greece.
(36)
OJ L 268, 1.10.2016, p. 82–84.
(37)
COM(2016) 468 final.
(38)
Fourth Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, COM(2016) 792 final.