monthly update march 2016

8/18/2019 Monthly Update March 2016

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Highlights

50,364 Refugees and migrants

present in Greece on the

mainland and on islands


present in FYROM


present in Serbia


arriving by sea to Europe in

2016

876 Average daily arrivals toGreece in the month of

March

531 Refugees and migrants

estimated to have died/ gone

missing at sea in 2016

Refugees/migrants developments in March

According to the UN Refugee Agency more than one million

refugees traveled to Greece since the start of 2015, mostly

refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. UNHCR called thismilestone an urgent reminder of the need for a more coordinated

approach to managing the influx and protecting people who are fleeing

war and persecution. The 5-year conflict has fueled the worst

humanitarian crisis of our time, with 4.8 million Syrians forced to seek

refuge in neighbouring countries and a further 6.6 million displaced inside

the country.

UNHCR organised a high-level conference on refugees from

Syria on 30th March in Geneva with representatives of 92

countries together with governmental and non-governmental

organizations. The focus of the gathering was the need for expanded,multi-year programmes of resettlement and other forms of humanitarian

admission, including involving countries that till now have not been

involved in such initiatives. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo

Grandi, said that UNHCR estimates that some 480,000 resettlement

places for Syrians may be needed before the end of 2018.

On 18th March, the European Union and Turkey reconfirmed

the agreement on the implementation of their joint action

plan to end irregular migration from Turkey to the EU. The

main action points of the EU-Turkey agreement are as

following: All new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey into Greek islands as

from 20th March 2016 will be returned to Turkey.

For every Syrian being returned to Turkey from Greek islands,

another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU taking into

account the UN vulnerability criteria.

Read on about the main action points by clicking here

UNHCR Kosovo* update

March 2016

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

A Syrian

refugee

hugs her

daughter

after

reaching

the shores

of Lesvos

island

©

UNHCR/A.

Zavallis

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement/http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement/http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement/http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/56e97c686.jpghttp://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement/


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UNHCR redefines its role in Greece as EU-Turkey deal comes into effect. UNHCR has tillnow been supporting the authorities in the so-called "hotspots" on the Greek islands, where refugees

and migrants were received, assisted, and registered. Under the new provisions, these sites have now

become detention facilities. Accordingly, and in line with UNHCR’s policy on opposing mandatory

detention, UNHCR has suspended some of its activities at all closed centres on the islands. However,

UNHCR maintains a presence to carry out protection monitoring to ensure that refugee and human rights

standards are upheld, and to provide information on the rights and procedures to seek asylum. UNHCR

staff will also continue to be present at the shoreline and sea port to provide life-saving assistance and

it will continue to assist the Greek authorities to develop an adequate reception capacity.

UNHCR Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie Pitt,

concluded her mission to Greece on 16th March. MsJolie Pitt met with volunteers, NGOs and local authorities

engaged in emergency response efforts on the island of

Lesvos, and she spoke with refugee families in the Moria

registration centre. At the end of her visit Ms Jolie Pitt said,

"I look forward to UNHCR being able to enhance its supportto the Greek authorities in coordinating the humanitarian

response, and together with partners, support efforts of the

authorities to ensure effective registration as well as access

to asylum and relocation, with particular attention to those

who are the most vulnerable".

UNHCR: 6 steps towards solving the refugee

situation in Europe UNHCR High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, has proposed a plan to the EU Member States to manage

and stabilize the refugee situation. The plan includes six key points, such as full implementation of so-

called "hot spot" approach and relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy and, stepping up

support to Greece to handle the humanitarian emergency, including for refugee status determination,

relocation, and return or readmission. Read on about other key points of the plan:

http://www.unhcr.org/56d957db9.html

Latest information is available on UNHCR website:

http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php

UNHCR Kosovo – key developments in March

“Skopje Process”i meetings: OSCEand UNHCR jointly facilitated the

first Technical Working Group

(TWG) meeting on Security,

Dialogue and Reintegration on 21st

March. TWG meeting on Personal

Documentation took place on 22nd

March. During the Security, Dialogue andReintegration TWG, participants discussed

measures to respond to security incidents

and enhance inter-community relations,

to tackle security and justice issues

affecting return and reintegration, and

finally to enable the freedom of

Special Envoy Angelina Jolie talks to Syrian refugees

in Domiz camp. © UNHCR/A.McConnell

I

i

i

i

i

l

i

li

i

il

ii

i

.

http://www.unhcr.org/56d957db9.htmlhttp://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.phphttp://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.phphttp://www.unhcr.org/56d957db9.html


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movement and address the obstacles to return. Moreover, during the TWG meeting on Personal

Documentation participants exchanged on key concerns and gaps affecting the displaced population and

agreed on the way forward to enable the efficient and timely provision of personal documentation. The

TWG members agreed to form a smaller taskforce group to tackle specific issues, which will feed into

the TWG with concrete actions and recommendations for the future work. Following both TWGs

meetings, all institutional participants received a list of action points agreed at the meetings for their

comments and input.

IDP profiling in Kosovo kick-starts in April. In 2012, UNHCR initiated a number of preparatoryactivities to create conditions and cooperation of stakeholders for a collaborative implementation of IDP

Profiling exercise. Since then, UNHCR Kosovo supported by Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS) has been

closely working with the Ministry of Communities and Returns (MCR) and the Danish Refugee Council

(DRC) Office in Kosovo to plan and prepare the exercise. The preparatory phase included establishing

the Profiling Working Group and Profiling Management Group (PMG), agreeing on baseline data, drafting

the methodology, developing the questionnaire, etc. Other contributors to the project included the

Kosovo Agency for Statistics (KAS), Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Commissariat for Refugees and

Migration of the Republic of Serbia, OSCE Office in Kosovo, IOM, UNDP and other stakeholders, whohave also been members of the PMG.

DRC and MCR signed the Memorandum of Understanding about the profiling on 30th March and its

implementation will take place between 1st April and 30th September. UNHCR will support the exercise

throughout its implementation phases. The outcome of the profiling will help the authorities and

stakeholders to understand better the needs of displaced persons and facilitate their access to

sustainable and rights-based durable solutions through development of policies and targeted DS

projects.

In March, UNHCR initiated the needs-assessment exercise targeting 381 Roma,Ashkhali, and Egyptian (RAE) families. The families reside in Montenegro, FYROM and Serbia, andare part of 9,400 individuals who registered their interest to return to Kosovo. Before the exercise

triggered, a pilot mission went to Montenegro to test the questionnaire and a new software database

developed by UNHCR Kosovo. The proper needs assessment in FYROM and Montenegro was launched

on 30th March and the mission to Serbia is expected to start on 5 th April. According to the internal

planning, the entire exercise will be completed in April. The assessment exercise will focus on identifying

actual needs, vulnerabilities and skills/capacities of each family.

i The regional initiative so-called “Skopje Process” is an inter-institutional initiative on Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons from Kosovo,which is guided by context-specific 10 principles directing participating institutions to a comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of solutions,

delivering results in a time-bound manner, prioritising according to needs-based criteria, using the existing momentum. In “Skopje Process”,

UNHCR Kosovo in partnership with OSCE Mission in Kosovo bring together representatives from Belgrade, Skopje, Pristina and Podgorica

to address main obstacles to return such as: property rights, personal documentation, security, dialogue and reintegration, data

management and solutions planning. In 2016, a series of Technical Working Groups (TWG) is going to be organised to enable the discussion

between institutions in order to adopt action points in each priority area and address main challenges.

For more information please contact UNHCR Office of the Chief of Mission in Kosovo

Malgorzata Bratkrajc, External Relations Officer, tel: +381 38 241 509; e-mail: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

monthly update march 2016

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