On Wednesday 5 July, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) released its yearly reference report: The Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union 2016. This includes European Union member states, in addition to Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
With almost 1.3 million applications for international protection made in the EU+ in 2016, as opposed to 2015 when close to 1.4 million applications were lodged, this constitutes a 7% decrease. Despite this slight reduction, the report explains that the EU+ has continued to face a significant challenge with the increase in the registration and processing of these requests that have in some cases been driven by the unprecedented arrival of migrants in 2015.
2016, however, saw a number of changes in the main asylum seekers’ countries of destination, with Germany, Italy, France, Greece and Austria accounting for 81% of the total of all requests submitted in the EU +.
The report explains that the crisis in Syria remains the key factor underpinning the number of requests for international protection in the EU +. Syria accounts for 26% of requests and was the main nationality of those seeking asylum in 2016. Syria is followed by Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Nigeria.
EASO also examines the institutional changes that took place in 2016 in the asylum field. It noted that national legislation had been revised in many EU + countries, particularly with regard to the provisions on the protection of refugees and their families, reception, registration of applications and return conditions for those whose protection requests have been refused.
The decrease in the number of asylum applications submitted in the EU + appears to be continuing this year, according to the initial figures published by EASO. At the end of May, there had been more than 595,000 first instance decisions pending, of which 59% had been pending for more than six months. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)