Asylum and Refugee resettlement in Iceland: 2015
Ministers Council Ministers Council for Refugees and Asylum was established in autumn 2015. Following a governmental decision to spent 2 billion on assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in response to the refugee crisis, divided to the following tasks: Financial support to international organizations that work with refugees. and humanitarian Resettlement of quota refugees to Iceland. For procedures and services provided to asylum seekers, including action applications. to accelerated processing of asylum
New Foreigners Act submitted New bill on foreigners soon be submitted to the Parliament. Special emphasis international competitive legal and regulatory environment and ensuring that legislation is up to date in matters relating to human rights and International and European commitments (children s best interest, victims of trafficking, gender-based violence and/or torture).
Iceland has not experienced the unrelenting wave of asylum seekers as the other Nordic countries, which is not be surprising, given Iceland s geographical location. As a result we are rarely the original or preferred destination of those forced to leave their homeland in search for a secure future. Nevertheless, we have noticed a considerable surge in arrivals of people seeking international protection with a total of 354 individuals applying for international protection last year. This rise in number, albeit low in comparison to Norway, reflects almost a 100% increase from the previous year when 174 individuals sought asylum in Iceland - and is the highest number of people in one year in our modern day history.
This has put a strain on our asylum processing system and the ministerial committee established in September responded with allocations to improve the system with a view of speeding up the processing of applications. This includes increasing staff, minor legislative amendments and streamlining processes. We have also established a special reception center to accommodate those arriving in Iceland. The composition of the asylum seekers in Iceland differs from the other Nordic countries as this year, 34% of applicants come from Albania who along with their Balkan neighbors of, Kosovo and Macedonia, make up more than half of the asylum seekers in Iceland in 2015.
400 350 Asylum applications 2009-2015 355 300 250 200 172 176 150 118 100 76 50 35 51 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Granted - Asylum or Protection 2015 50 45 45 40 35 30 25 21 20 16 15 10 5 0 Asylum Other protection Humanitarian Protection
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN - 2015 Other; 83; 23% Albania; 108; 30% Pakistan; 9; 3% Belarus; 10; 3% Ghana; 11; 3% Iran; 13; 4% Syria; 29; 8% Kosovo; 15; 4% Afghanistan; 22; 6% Macedonia; 27; 8% Irak; 28; 8%
Asylum decisions 2015 Withdrawn applications; 47; 15% Rejected; 114; 35% Return; 80; 25% Protection granted; 82; 25%
Quote Refugees 1996-2016 Year Municipality Country of Origin Total 1996 Ísafjörður Krajina 30 1997 Hornafjörður Krajina 17 1998 Blönduós Krajina 23 1999 Hafnarfjörður, Fjarðabyggð, Dalvík Kosovo 75 2000 Siglufjörður Krajina 24 2001 Reykjanesbær Krajina 23 2003 Akureyri Krajina 24 2005 Reykjavík Kosovo 7 2005 Reykjavík Colombia 24 2007 Reykjavík Colombia 30 2008 Akranes Palestinia 29 2010 Reykjavík Colombia 6 2012 Reykjavík Afghanistan 9 2014 Hafnarfjörður/Reykjavík Simbabwe, Uganda and more 11 2015 Reykjavík Syria 13 2015-2016 Akureyri, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður Syria 55 *2016 Syria 55 Total numer 455 * expected
OECD and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have called on governments to step up efforts to help refugees integrate and contribute to the societies and economies of Europe. Both organizations stressed it made economic sense to help the millions of refugees living in OECD countries to develop the skills they need to work productively and safely in the jobs of tomorrow. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría: Difficult and costly task in the short term, but had a high payoff for all in the medium to longer term. "Migrants and refugees are not a burden. They contribute to growth and are a hope for the future.
The efficiency of the asylum system is key. How to build a know how? Asylum procedure.,,the terms asylum-seeker and refugee are often confused: an asylum-seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated. On average, about 1 million people seek asylum on an individual basis every year. In mid-2014, there were more than 1.2 million asylum-seekers. Source: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c137.html