Brussels, 28/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - In the first three months of this year, more than 44,000 illegal migrants were “detected” at the borders with the Western Balkans, with over 27,500 coming from the area that covers Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, reveals a Frontex report on 23 July.
These migrants crossed either these Balkan countries or the border between these Balkan countries and their neighbouring EU member states, said the EU border management agency. Greece and Hungary were the EU countries most severely affected.
At the border between Hungary and Serbia, along which the Hungarian government is building a fence, Kosovan nationals formed the largest group - 62%, or 20,000 people - among the irregular migrants detected. The numbers of Kosovars crossing into the EU fell dramatically from mid-February, however.
The other migrants passing through this Western Balkans area were Syrians, Afghans and also Iraqis, Somalis and Pakistanis, with the numbers for the last three nationalities trebling in comparison with the previous quarter. These migrants had arrived via Turkey, Greece or Bulgaria, Frontex notes. The agency says that, of the migrants who applied for asylum in Hungary, very few remained in that country to complete the process.
Frontex says, too, that the rising number of Afghans, of the order of 6,000, detected firstly in Greece and then in the Western Balkans, is linked to the changes of policy in third countries, including the expiry of the visas of over 500,000 Afghans in Iran at the end of June. In addition to the precarious security situation in Afghanistan, the toughening of labour laws in Saudi Arabia, where many Afghans have found work, may also explain these arrivals.
The report indicates that 517 people smugglers were identified in the first quarter of 2015, a slight rise (6%) on the fourth quarter of 2014. (Solenn Paulic)