GENEVA / SYRIAN REFUGEE NUMBERS
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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIAN REFUGEE NUMBERS
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 OCTOBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE, 2011, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations
16 OCTOBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, briefing
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson, UNHCR:
“According to Eurostat, between January 2011 and August 2012, the European Union together with Norway and Switzerland received 16,474 asylum applications from Syrians. The figures across European countries vary greatly; Germany received five and a half thousand, Sweden two and a half thousand, followed by the Switzerland, one thousand four hundred.”
4. Cutaway, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson, UNHCR:
“While most Member States are processing claims and granting protection to Syrians, currently approaches to interpreting protection criteria and the type of status and entitlements granted vary considerably. In Greece for example, the asylum-system fails to meet the protection needs of many refugees. In some countries on the Eastern border of the EU rejection rates are more than 50 per cent. In addition, some countries are more likely to give Syrians a tolerated stay rather than actual protection. There is therefore a risk that people in need of protection will be denied the rights to which they are entitled under EU or international law and will be compelled to move on.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson, UNHCR:
“As of today we have 343,871 Syrians who’ve either formally registered as refugees or are being assisted.”
8. Cutaway, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Byrs, Spokesperson, WFP:
“These food baskets include stable commodities such as rice, bulgur, oil, canned beans and also tea. This is distributed on a regular basis. When WFP launched the emergency in October 2011, it scaled up and in the beginning we were reaching 25,000 beneficiaries in April. In May and June we reached 500,000. And now we are reaching 1.4 million.”
10. Wide shot, Press Room III
With a small but growing number of Syrian asylum seekers arriving in countries of the European Union, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) today (16 October) stressed to EU member states the importance of adhering to the principles of the Common European Asylum System.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency said that while most Member States were granting protection to Syrians, “currently approaches to interpreting protection criteria and the type of status and entitlements granted vary considerably.”
The principles of the common asylum system include ensuring access to territory, access to asylum procedures, harmonized approaches to the adjudication of asylum claims and mutual support between member states. There is an opportunity for the EU to put its commitment to solidarity into practice.
According to Eurostat, between January 2011 and August 2012, the European Union together with Norway and Switzerland received 16,474 asylum applications from Syrians. The figures across European countries vary; Germany received 5,515, Sweden 2,506, followed by the Switzerland (1,405), Austria (972), UK (912), Denmark (908) and Belgium (796). The numbers in other member states are considerably lower.
Using Greece as an example, Edwards said that in that country the asylum-system “fails to meet the protection needs of many refugees”.
He also said that in some countries on the Eastern border of the EU “rejection rates are more than 50 per cent. In addition, some countries are more likely to give Syrians a tolerated stay rather than actual protection”.
Edwards said there was the risk that people in need of protection would be denied the rights to which they are entitled under EU or international law.
Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey continue to host the overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees – now numbering 343,871 Syrians who have either formally registered as refugees or are being assisted.
With the crisis continuing, contingency planning at national level for new arrivals should take place. At EU level, there must also be readiness to consider applying the Temporary Protection Directive and other appropriate responses, if the conditions demand it, Edwards said.
The World Food Program’s (WFP) spokesperson, Elizabeth Byrs said that WFP’s emergency food program was reaching 25,000 beneficiaries in April, “in May and June it reached 500,000. And now we are reaching 1.4 million.”
WFP is prioritizing food distribution to internally displaced people, she said. The price of wheat continued to rise and in areas where fighting is taking place, food prices were reported to have almost doubled.