UN: 850,000 more may seek asylum in Europe

EU prepares quota plan while other countries vow to take in migrants

GENEVA—At least 850,000 people were expected to cross the Mediterranean seeking refuge in Europe this year and the next, the United Nations said on Tuesday, giving estimates that already look conservative.

More than 380,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea this year, new figures from the the UN’s refugee agency United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) showed, including close to 260,000 who have landed in Greece and 121,000 in Italy.

UNHCR called for more cohesive asylum policies to deal with the growing numbers.

Many were refugees from Syria, driven to make the voyage by intensified fighting there and worsening conditions for refugees in surrounding countries due to funding short- falls in aid programs, UNHCR said. Hundreds have already died at sea. “In 2015, UNHCR anticipates that approximately 400,000 new arrivals will seek international protection in Europe via the Mediterranean. In 2016 this number could reach 450,000 or more,” it said in an appeal document.

So far, the numbers did not appear to have slowed down. A single-day record of 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia on Monday, while 30,000 are on Greek islands, it said.

“Obviously the discussions this week in Europe are taking even on greater urgency because it obviously cannot be a German solution to a European problem,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said.

The European Union’s (EU) executive Commission is expected to unveil a program this week to redistribute 160,000 asylum seekers in Italy, Hungary and Greece. Under the plan, Germany would take more than 31,000 migrants, France 24,000 and Spain almost 15,000. Australia, which has maintained a hard line on asylum-seekers, also pledged separately Wednesday to take in 12,000.

Peter Sutherland, special representative of the UN secretary-general for migration and development, urged other countries to face their responsibilities.

Already, Venezuela said it would accept 20,000 refugees. Brazilian Presi- dent Dilma Rousseff declared migrants would be welcomed there with “open arms,” while Chile’s leader Michelle Bachelet also vowed to take “a large number.” Canada’s Quebec province also said it would take 3,650 this year.

Four million Syrians are registered as refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

But smaller central and eastern EU states have rejected any mandatory quotas for taking in refugees. Hungary vowed on Tuesday to speed up the construction of a fence on its 175-kilometer border aimed at stopping migrants.

EU president Donald Tusk warned Monday that “the present wave of migration is not a one-time event but the beginning of a real exodus” that would likely last “for many years.”