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2015 UNHCR subregional operations profile - Northern, Western, Central and Southern Europe

| Overview |

UNHCR 2015 Northern, Western, Central and Southern Europe subregional operations map

The number of asylum applications received in 2014 in European Union (EU) Member States has risen by 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2013. A quarter of the applicants are of Afghan, Eritrean or Syrian origin, and a similar proportion are under 18 years of age. There have also been many more asylum applications from stateless people, with an estimated total of 436,000 people across the European Union. Germany continues to be the recipient of the largest number of asylum applications, followed by France, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom.

In the first seven months of 2014, more than 87,000 people arrived in Italy by sea, mainly from Eritrea and the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria). In an effort to reduce the risks linked to such journeys, in October 2013 the Italian Government launched the Mare Nostrum operation, which has rescued more than 100,000 people. Greece and Spain also recorded an increase in arrivals.

The economic situation in the region has had an impact on the capacity and readiness of many countries to strengthen their protection systems. Austerity measures have also hit civil-society organizations that provide services to asylum-seekers and refugees. Xenophobia and intolerance have led to incidents of discrimination and violence. States have responded by concentrating on curbing irregular movements, including through tighter border controls and detention, or penalization for illegal entry.

UNHCR will build on international and regional law and policy to support States' efforts to find durable solutions for unaccompanied and separated children, who have been arriving in the subregion in large numbers.

The Office continues to be particularly concerned about reports that some EU countries are placing barriers to entry or forcibly returning asylum-seekers and refugees.

In April 2014, the European Union adopted the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, representing a commitment of over EUR 3 billion for the next seven years (2014-2020). A major portion of this fund will be allocated to Member States' national programmes to complement their own domestic budgets, which should help improve asylum systems, reception modalities, and integration policies.

In this context, UNHCR's work in the subregion will also focus on:

  • Assisting and supporting governments to build and maintain fair and efficient asylum and protection systems;

  • Ensuring border management is more protection-sensitive. The Office will promote alternatives to detention. It will also advocate for reception conditions that meet minimum international standards;

  • Promoting responsibility-sharing among EU Member States, complementing the efforts of the European Commission and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO);

  • Promoting community participation and preventing and responding to incidents of sexual and gender-based violence(SGBV);

  • Advocating for more resettlement places and enhancing integration capacity in resettlement countries;

  • Urging States to accede to the 1954 and 1961 UN Statelessness Conventions, improving mechanisms to identify and protect stateless people and preventing and resolving situations of statelessness; and

  • Supporting EU policy-making processes related to people of concern and mobilizing regional political and financial support for UNHCR's work worldwide.

| Response and implementation |

Asylum and protection

In 2015, one of UNHCR's priorities will be to ensure the safeguarding of asylum space. To prevent deaths at sea, the organization will work with European States towards more concerted action. These efforts will be guided by its Central Mediterranean Sea Initiative (CMSI), which includes measures not only within the European Union, but also in transit or first asylum countries, and in countries of origin. The CMSI seeks to strengthen cooperation with relevant stakeholders. Admission practices will be monitored and the capacity of immigration and coast guard officials built, to help prevent refoulement and ensure that those in need of international protection can access territory.

UNHCR offices in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom will follow up on measures in respect of the Response to Vulnerability project. Standard operating procedures will be instituted in reception centres to respond to incidents of SGBV.

The Office will pursue efforts to build and maintain an effective asylum and protection system. Since 2013, UNHCR and the Government of Albania have worked in close collaboration to ensure the safe arrival of more than 240 former residents of the Hurriya temporary transit location (ex-Ashraf) in Iraq who are in need of international protection, and will continue working on durable solutions for this refugee group.

UNHCR will also work to assure reception conditions and procedures that are adequate for responding to asylum-seekers' specific needs and maintaining their dignity. UNHCR and UNICEF are developing guidance on how States can ensure respect for the best interests of unaccompanied children in Europe.

In line with the organization's global Beyond Detention strategy, rolled out in Hungary, Lithuania, Malta and the United Kingdom, the Office will promote alternatives to detention, as well as the release of children held and improvements in detention conditions.

Monitoring and reporting on national practices will help identify gaps and good practice. The follow-up study to Beyond Proof, which assesses credibility in claims lodged by unaccompanied children, will be completed in 2014 and will require implementation in 2015.

Having analysed the reasons for their movements, UNHCR has started developing a more comprehensive protection strategy for Afghans.

Comments on legislation in the context of the transposition of the asylum acquis, comparative analyses and judicial engagement, will allow UNHCR to contribute to the setting of national and regional legal standards. It will implement quality audit mechanisms and participate in some national asylum procedures, such as those in France, Italy and Spain.

UNHCR will continue to complement EASO's efforts to improve practical cooperation among EU Member States in building asylum systems and improving the quality of country-of-origin information.

The Office will pursue its efforts to identify cases for judicial engagement with national and European courts. It will continue to support the conference of refugee law judges in Germany. Judicial engagement and court interventions will permit UNHCR to ensure the correct application of relevant laws in refugee cases.

UNHCR works closely with civil-society organizations and others involved in refugee protection. Innovative approaches include high-visibility campaigns in public spaces and transport. In 2015, particular attention will be paid to improving social media communication.

Durable solutions

Despite 22 out of 36 countries contributing to UNHCR's resettlement efforts in some capacity, the number of resettlement places for the region remain limited. Special attention will be devoted to resettlement and humanitarian admission of Syrian refugees, and the Office will continue managing the Emergency Transit Centres in Timisoara (Romania) and Humenné (Slovakia).

In order to enhance reception and integration capacities and improve refugees' local integration prospects, the Office will work to raise awareness of the integration challenges facing 1.6 million refugees in the region and to promote good practice in labour market integration, housing and the building of social and professional networks.

Statelessness

UNHCR has launched a 10-year campaign to end statelessness, and will advocate for more EU Member States to accede to the 1954 and 1961 UN Statelessness Conventions. The organization will encourage and support States to adopt national action plans to address statelessness, conduct public awareness activities and advocate for a formal identification and protection mechanism for stateless people be established in countries that lack one.

The Office will continue to advocate for law reform preventing statelessness at birth or later in life, and the facilitation of naturalization. Cooperation with the European Network on Statelessness will continue.

| Financial information |

The budget for the subregion has increased significantly in the past years, from USD 51.1 million in 2011 to USD 68.1 million in 2015, primarily owing to the impact of the Syria Situation and asylum-seekers arriving by boat to the shores of Southern Europe.

The budget for the subregion will however be reduced during the course of 2015 as the operation in Albania will move to South-Eastern Europe within the context of UNHCR's regionalization process in the western Balkans.

Approximately 94 per cent of the 2015 budget is allocated to refugee programmes, with the remaining 6 per cent for statelessness activities.

UNHCR 2015 budgets for Northern, Western, Central and Southern Europe (USD)
Operation 2014
Revised budget
(as of 30 June 2014)
2015
Refugee
programme
PILLAR 1
Stateless
programme
PILLAR 2
Reintegration
projects
PILLAR 3
Total
Total 68,075,927 62,431,037 4,479,646 1,191,163 68,101,847
1. Includes activities in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Liaison Office in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
2. Includes activities in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and as from 2015, also Croatia.
3. Includes activities in Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Spain.
4. Includes activities in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.
Belgium Regional Office[1] 14,521,916 14,603,538 1,431,980 0 16,035,518
Hungary Regional Office[2] 17,069,083 11,993,641 1,702,007 1,191,163 14,886,811
Italy Regional Office[3] 24,976,188 22,677,175 223,092 0 22,900,267
Sweden Regional Office[4] 5,538,754 4,518,289 965,440 0 5,483,728
Regional Activities 5,969,986 8,638,394 157,127 0 8,795,521

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2015 Update


UNHCR contact information

Denmark is covered by the following UNHCR office:

UNHCR Regional Representation for Northern Europe
Style of Address Regional Representation for Northern Europe
Street Address Ynglingagatan 14, 6th Floor, 11347 Stockholm, Sweden
Mailing Address Ynglingagatan 14, 6th Floor, 11347 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone 46 8 457 4880
Facsimile 46 8 457 4887
Website http://www.unhcr-northerneurope.org
Email swest@unhcr.org
Time Zone GMT + 1
Working Hours
Monday:09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday:09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday:09:00 - 17:00
Thursday:09:00 - 17:00
Friday:09:00 - 17:00
Saturday:
Sunday:
Public Holidays 01 January 2015, New Year
03 April 2015, Good friday
06 April 2015, Easter monday
01 May 2015, Labour Day
17 July 2015, Eid Al Fitr
23 September 2015, Eid Al Adha
30 October 2015, All Saints Eve
24 December 2015, Christmas Eve
25 December 2015, Christmas Day
31 December 2015, New Years eve
Comments Countries covered: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden
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Statistical Snapshot*
* As at December 2014
  1. Country or territory of asylum or residence.
  2. Persons recognized as refugees under the 1951 UN Convention/1967 Protocol, the 1969 OAU Convention, in accordance with the UNHCR Statute, persons granted a complementary form of protection and those granted temporary protection. It also includes persons in a refugee-like situation for whom refugee status has, for practical or other reasons, not been ascertained. In the absence of Government figures, UNHCR has estimated the refugee population in many industrialized countries based on 10 years of individual asylum-seeker recognition.
  3. Persons whose applications for asylum or refugee status are pending at the end of 2014 at any stage in the asylum procedure.
  4. Refugees who have returned to their place of origin during 2014. Source: country of origin and asylum.
  5. Persons who are displaced within their country and to whom UNHCR extends protection and assistance. It also includes people in IDP-like situations. This category is descriptive in nature and includes groups of persons who are inside their country of nationality or habitual residence and who face protection risks similar to those of IDPs but who, for practical or other reasons, could not be reported as such.
  6. IDPs protected/assisted by UNHCR who have returned to their place of origin during 2014.
  7. Refers to persons who are not considered as nationals by any State under the operation of its law. This category refers to persons who fall under the agency's statelessness mandate because they are stateless according to this international definition, but data from some countries may also include persons with undetermined nationality.
  8. Refers to individuals who do not necessarily fall directly into any of the other groups but to whom UNHCR may extend its protection and/or assistance services. These activities might be based on humanitarian or other special grounds.
The data are generally provided by Governments, based on their own definitions and methods of data collection.
A dash (-) indicates that the value is zero, not available or not applicable.

Source: UNHCR/Governments.
Compiled by: UNHCR, FICSS.
Residing in Denmark [1]
Refugees [2] 17,785
Asylum Seekers [3] 4,297
Returned Refugees [4] 0
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) [5] 0
Returned IDPs [6] 0
Stateless Persons [7] 4,725
Various [8] 0
Total Population of Concern 26,807
Originating from Denmark [1]
Refugees [2] 12
Asylum Seekers [3] 7
Returned Refugees [4] 0
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) [5] 0
Returned IDPs [6] 0
Various [8] 1
Total Population of Concern 20
Government Contributions to UNHCR
2013 Contributions Breakdown
Total contribution in USD: 86,486,360 [rank: 8]
Total contribution in currency: 489,811,426 (DKK); 535,103 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 27,874,564 [rank: 5]
Donor ranking per GDP: 2
Donor ranking per capita: 4
2013 Contributions chart
Contributions since 2000
YearUSD
2014
More info77,194,302
As at 15 January 2015
2013
More info86,486,360
Total contribution in USD: 86,486,360 [rank: 8]
Total contribution in currency: 489,811,426 (DKK); 535,103 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 27,874,564 [rank: 5]
Donor ranking per GDP: 2
Donor ranking per capita: 4
2012
More info58,139,553
Total contribution in USD: 58,139,553 [rank: 10]
Total contribution in currency: 322,757,030 (DKK); 492,809 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 28,689,259 [rank: 5]
Donor ranking per GDP: 3
Donor ranking per capita: 4
2011
More info46,850,547
Total contribution in USD: 46,850,547 [rank: 11]
Total contribution in currency: 257,127,976 DKK; 602,203 USD
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 22,907,489 [rank: 5]
Donor ranking per GDP: 4
Donor ranking per capita: 5
2010
More info56,768,147
Total contribution in USD: 56,768,147 (rank: 8)
Total contribution in currency: 293,077,028 DKK; 912,602 USD
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 25,242,718 (rank: 4)
Donor ranking per GDP: 4
Donor ranking per capita: 5
2009
More info52,132,909
Total contribution in USD: 52,132,909 (rank: 8] (1)
Total contribution in currency: 265,700,000 DKK; 1,898,443 USD
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 24,947,227 [RANK: 4)
Donor ranking per GDP: 3
Donor ranking per capita: 5
(1) In 2009, the Government of Denmark gave DKK 205,000 (USD 39,806) for Iraqi refugees attending higher education in Syrian universities
2008
More info55,779,338
Total contribution in USD: 55,779,338 (rank: 8)
Total contribution in currency: 272,706,000 (DKK); 281,528 (EUR); 2,434,299 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 25,440,313 (rank: 4)
Donor ranking per GDP: 3
Donor ranking per capita: 5
2007
More info57,945,675
Total contribution in USD: 57,945,675 (rank: 6)
Total contribution in currency: 301,611,000 (DKK); 510,195 (EUR); 3,029,311 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 22,927,690 (rank: 4)
Donor ranking per GDP: 3
Donor ranking per capita: 3
2006
More info50,661,166
Total contribution in USD: 50,661,166 (rank: 8)
Total contribution in currency: 287,800,000 (DKK); 2,992,799 (USD)
Unrestricted contribution (USD): 20,634,921 (rank: 3)
Donor ranking per GDP: 2
Donor ranking per capita: 3
2005
More info53,033,245
USD 53,033,245 of which USD 22,810,219 (43%) unrestricted, USD 2,107,926 (4%) earmarked at the regional level, USD 13,119,735 (24.5%) earmarked at the subregional level, USD 13,140,008 (25%) earmarked at the country level, USD 848,110 (1.5%) at the sectoral / thematic level and 1,007,247 (2%) for JPOs.
2004
More info45,443,878
USD 45,443,878 of which USD 20,973,154 (46%) was unrestricted, USD 18,815,878 (41%) at the subregional level, USD 3,105,090 (7%) at the country level and USD 2,549,756 (6%) at the sectoral / thematic level.
2003
More info39,071,992
USD 39,071,992 of which USD 17,556,180 (45%) was unrestricted, USD 19,531,949 (50%) earmarked at the subregional level, USD 1,230,769 (3%) earmarked at the country level and USD 753,094 (2%) earmarked at the sectoral level.
2002
More info33,095,660
USD 33,095,660 of which USD 15,080,356 unrestricted (46%), USD 16,950,876 earmarked at the sub-regional level (51%) and USD 1,064,428 earmarked at the sectoral level (3%).
2001
More info37,329,450
USD 37,329,450 of which 15,566,625 (42%) unrestricted and 21,762,825 (58%) earmarked.
2000
More info37,415,599
USD 37,415,599, of which 16,534,392 (44%) unrestricted and 20,881,207 (56%) earmarked.
Private Sector Contributions to UNHCR
Private sector fund raising 2013

Total contribution in USD: 389,000
Major donorUSD
Danish Refugee Council389,000

2013 Contributions chart
Contributions since 2006
YearUSD
2014
More info 3,055,000
As at 15 January 2015
2013
More info 389,000

Total contribution in USD: 389,000
Major donorUSD
Danish Refugee Council389,000
2012
More info 121,500

Total contribution in USD: 121,500
Major donorsUSD
Danish Refugee Council121,500
2011
More info 184,954

Total contribution in USD: 184,954
Total contribution in currency: 1,004,500 (DKK)
Major donorsUSD
The LEGO Foundation184,094
2010
More info 477,305

Total contribution in USD: 477,305
2009
More info 0
Figure not available
2008
More info 0
Figure not available
2007
More info 0
Figure not available
2006
More info 0
Figure not available

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Jihan's Story

Like millions, 34-year-old Jihan was willing to risk everything in order to escape war-torn Syria and find safety for her family. Unlike most, she is blind.

Nine months ago, she fled Damascus with her husband, Ashraf, 35, who is also losing his sight. Together with their two sons, they made their way to Turkey, boarding a boat with 40 others and setting out on the Mediterranean Sea. They hoped the journey would take eight hours. There was no guarantee they would make it alive.

After a treacherous voyage that lasted 45 hours, the family finally arrived at a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, called Milos - miles off course. Without support or assistance, they had to find their own way to Athens.

The police detained them for four days upon their arrival. They were cautioned to stay out of Athens, as well as three other Greek cities, leaving them stranded.

By now destitute and exhausted, the family were forced to split up - with Ashraf continuing the journey northwards in search of asylum and Jihan taking their two sons to Lavrion, an informal settlement about an hour's drive from the Greek capital.

Today, Jihan can only wait to be reunited with her husband, who has since been granted asylum in Denmark. The single room she shares with her two sons, Ahmed, 5, and Mohammad, 7, is tiny, and she worries about their education. Without an urgent, highly complex corneal transplant, her left eye will close forever.

"We came here for a better life and to find people who might better understand our situation," she says, sadly. "I am so upset when I see how little they do [understand]."

Jihan's Story