Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme

Sixty-third session

Geneva, 1-5 October 2012

Update on UNHCR’s operations in Europe

A. Situational analysis including new developments

In the first half of 2012, more than 154,000 asylum applications were lodged in the 38 European countries for which UNHCR compiles statistics. Some 122,500 of the applications were made in European Union (EU) member States. Europe continued to receive large numbers of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC).

The number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, a sea with many busy shipping lanes where international law and centuries of custom oblige ships to assist those in need, is shocking.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 1,500 people died in the Mediterranean in 2011 alone, making it the deadliest year on record. Fortress Europe, an internet blog that tracks deaths of those seeking to reach Europe, puts the number at over 2,000. The real number may be even higher.

Government Should Stop Detaining Unaccompanied Children, End Blanket Detention

(Valetta, July 18, 2012) – Malta’s policy of mandatory detention for migrants arriving by sea results in prolonged detention of unaccompanied children and other abuses of migrants’ rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Maltese government should end the blanket detention policy and ensure that children are not detained pending age determination, Human Rights Watch said.

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.

Exhausted survivors from a boat carrying Somali refugees that landed on one of Malta’s most popular beaches this weekend have told UNHCR that five men and two women aboard perished during the week-long voyage from Libya.

04/28/2012 15:09 GMT

VALLETTA, April 28, 2012 (AFP) - Two boats carrying 52 migrants landed in Malta on Saturday and were intercepted by police, officials said, as improved weather in the Mediterranean pushes up the number of migrant arrivals.

Twenty-nine people arrived on one boat, landing in a northern village of the tiny island. They were caught trying to climb cliffs, police sources told AFP.

The second boat with 23 on board was spotted close to Gozo, a smaller island forming part of the Maltese archipelago, and brought to shore.

Strasbourg, 29.03.2012 – A failure to react to distress calls and a “vacuum of responsibility” for search and rescue are among a “catalogue of failures” which led to the deaths of 63 people fleeing the conflict in Libya by sea during a tragic 15-day voyage in March 2011, according to a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

03/17/2012 18:40 GMT

VALLETTA, March 17, 2012 (AFP) - A French fishing trawler that came to the aid of boat people was stranded between the Italian island of Lampedusa and Malta on Saturday amid a dispute over which country to take responsibility for them.

"The migrants were rescued by a French trawler and we directed it to Lampedusa, according to international nautical standards, because it was the closest safe port of call," a Maltese army source told AFP.

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.

The “IOM MENA 10-month report” looks into IOM’s engagement in assisting migrants and displaced population since the start of the Libyan crisis to the end of 2011. Firstly, it provides an insight into Libya, reporting on the activities, operations and challenges faced in gaining access to the besieged locations and reach to the stranded migrants. Secondly, it analyses IOM’s response and activities in four of the Libya`s neighbouring countries, namely Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Niger.