UNHCR urges EU Member States to promptly relocate all asylum-seekers eligible under the EU’s emergency relocation scheme and for it to continue beyond the two years originally planned.

UNHCR has previously called for a review of the eligibility criteria and for the 75 percent protection rate threshold to be lowered, as this would allow for more people likely to be in need of international protection to be included.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Hungary to improve access for people seeking asylum and to do away with its so-called border “transit zones,” which he said are in effect detention centres.

UNHCR calls for additional 40,000 resettlement places to be made available for refugees located in 15 priority countries along the Central Mediterranean route.

The number of new arrivals in Greece's eastern Aegean islands, which accelerated in August, is putting pressure on overcrowded reception facilities and hampering efforts to improve conditions.

To offer alternatives to dangerous journeys to Europe, UNHCR seeks support for a comprehensive strategy with interventions at three different points: in the countries of origin and transit in sub-Saharan Africa, in North Africa, and in the destination countries in Europe.

UNHCR, UNICEF and IRC issue a roadmap for action to improve the situation of unaccompanied and separated children in Europe: efficient and harmonized processes are needed so that children can understand procedures and access protection and solutions in accordance with their best interests.

A UNHCR study finds that around half of those travelling to Libya do so believing they can find jobs there, but end up fleeing onwards to Europe to escape life-threatening insecurity, instability, difficult economic conditions plus widespread exploitation and abuse.

Sea arrivals in Italy are a matter of international concern, requiring a joined-up, comprehensive regional approach. Europe in particular needs to be fully involved through an urgent distribution system, increased external engagement and additional legal pathways of admission.

On World Refugee Day, new shipwrecks in the Mediterranean are a reminder of the grave dangers that people confront when forced to flee their countries because of war and persecution.