Refugees: Mediterranean Sea

(asked on 10th October 2016) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017.


Answered by
Robert Goodwill Portrait
Robert Goodwill
This question was answered on 18th October 2016

The Government is closely monitoring global migration developments, including the number of Mediterranean crossings, working in partnership with the EU and in source and transit countries, to address the mass movements of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This includes tackling criminal gangs who facilitate journeys and exploit migrants.

We have not made an estimate of the number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017. Determining refugee status is at the discretion of EU Member States and we do not estimate the number of illegal migrants that will be granted refugee status.

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