Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Europe saw the largest numbers of refugees arriving from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, while Syrians and Afghans remain the highest asylum seekers in nations like Germany, according to analysis.
The number of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe has proceeded up again in 2023, with wars and problems in other parts of the world fuelling ever-increasing migration flows, UN refugee agency data indicates. Meanwhile, nations across the continent are further tightening security standards in response to rising concerns over illegal immigration.
How Has Germany Responded to Recent Refugee Challenges?
Germany’s coalition administration last week agreed to tighten safety and asylum policies following a deadly stabbing attack linked to the so-called Islamic State extremist group.
The episode in Solingen, where three people were killed and eight wounded during the city’s 650th-anniversary festival, has torched political tensions over asylum and deportation policies.
The far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which has shifted the incident into a pillar of its campaign, succeeded a third of the votes in Thuringia and Saxony, two eastern German states, last Sunday.
Recent attacks have provoked Germany to change its asylum procedure and deport migrants from Afghanistan for the first time. Official figures indicate the number of Afghan refugees seeking asylum in Germany has swelled since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.
What Impact Did Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Have on Migration?
In recent years, Europe witnessed the largest numbers of refugees coming from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan — with Ukraine and Syria meeting active conflicts in their territory. Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in early 2022 caused a tremendous displacement in Europe. The UNHCR refugee agency data indicates that, by the end of last year, the battle had displaced an estimated 3.7 million people within the country and pushed 6.3 million refugees and asylum-seekers to pursue protection abroad, nearly 6 million of them in Europe.
Why Are Syrians and Afghans Leading Asylum Applications in Europe?
Syrians and Afghans persist to be the two largest groups of asylum-seekers, as they have been for several years, according to the data, presenting 209,000 and 155,000 applications, respectively, by the end of 2023. Germany alone has acquired a substantial number of asylum applications, with 117,363 from Syrians and 61,000 from Afghans by the end of last year.
Meanwhile, coastal Schengen region countries bordering non-EU members have been the major port of entry for refugees and migrants — a continuing movement since the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe. Reports of fierce pushbacks and other human rights violations against border police and the EU border control agency Frontex have driven significant criticism from NGOs across Europe. However, some EU member states have raised their vigilance, while others are mulling transferring some of the asylum seekers to third countries.
