
Italian Coast Guard rescues migrants and refugees bound for Italy (File photo). © IOM/Francesco Malavolta
Migrant Arrivals in Europe by Sea Reached 36,899 in First 21 Days of 2016: IOM
Posted on Fri. Jan-22-2016
Greece - With more than a week left in the first month of 2016, IOM reports that deaths of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean already make this the deadliest January on record. Deaths in the past 24 hours bring to at least 113 the total number of fatalities recorded, which is more than the past two Januaries combined, when 94 deaths were recorded - 12 in January 2014 and 82 last year.
With nearly 37,000 migrants and refugees now having arrived in Italy and Greece by sea in 2016, that figure is roughly 10 times 2015’s total on this date. For Greece and the Western Balkans, the increase is well over 20 times 2015’s total on this date.
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Syrian migrants and refugees crossing the Serbian-Croatian border (File photo). © Francesco Malavolta/IOM 2015
Migration, Asylum and Refugees in Germany: Understanding the Data
Posted on Fri. Jan-22-2016
Germany - Last year, Germany was the main European Union (EU) country of destination for migrants and refugees. A new briefing from IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre in Berlin presents the main data on arrivals of migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers during 2015.
During 2015, one million registered their intention to seek asylum in Germany. The data shows that since April 2015, the majority of first-time asylum applicants were from Syria. But relatively little is known about the profile of the people who registered an intention to apply for asylum in Germany.
This is because Germany´s EASY data collection system only collects data on the country of origin of the applicant and the receiving German “Land” or federal state, and not the socio-economic profile of the person.
In Germany, a quota system is used to distribute refugees and asylum-seekers among German states. This system allocates a specific percentage of asylum applicants, based on tax receipts and population numbers, to each state.
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