The Iran war risks fuelling the movement of more asylum seekers into Europe and across the Channel in small boats to the UK, a senior humanitarian has warned.
While it is “difficult to say” for certain if the conflict will lead to increased migration flows as no one knows when or how it will end, there is “obviously” a “risk” that prolonged war drives the flight of people into Europe, Danish Refugee Council secretary-general Charlotte Slente told The i Paper.
The former senior Danish diplomat also warned that the destruction of infrastructure, which Donald Trump has threatened to escalate in Iran, could lead to “extremely demanding” humanitarian consequences.
Slente’s warning echoed concerns raised by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the EU’s Agency for Asylum (EUAA) that war in Iran could lead to an increase in migrants travelling to Europe seeking sanctuary, as in 2015 when more than a million refugees and asylum seekers reached the continent amid conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Iranians make up ten per cent of small boat arrivals
Slente said: “Europe needs to do what it can to stop this conflict, because there will obviously be spillover effects, initially in the regional area, but then on a broader scale, there will be humanitarian consequences that will be extremely demanding financially.”
She pointed out that Iranians are among the top five nationalities of migrants entering the UK by irregular means, making up 10 per cent of small boat arrivals in the year to June, suggesting that any movement out of the country could have a direct impact in Britain.
But Slente stressed there was not yet evidence of an “upsurge” in those numbers.
As well as Iran, tens of thousands of people have already fled Israel’s attacks in Lebanon into other countries in the region, including Syria, a movement which may ultimately impact Europe.
Slente’s warning echoed concerns raised by NCA director general Graeme Biggar last month, who said that the “conflict in Iran is likely to increase the challenge” of irregular migrant arrivals in the UK.
The Migration Observatory at Oxford University has also said “it would not be surprising” if the unrest in Iran impacted asylum claims in the UK.
Instability in Iran ‘significant’ risk for dirving migration
In a report drawn up before the war began and published last month, the EUAA meanwhile flagged instability in Iran as a “significant” potential risk for driving migration flows, as even “partial destabilisation could generate refugee movements of an unprecedented magnitude” given the country’s population of approximately 90m people.
“Displacement of just 10 per cent of Iran’s population would rival the largest refugee flows of recent decades,” the EUAA warned.
While pointing out that this was “highly speculative”, the report added that “observers increasingly view Iran’s turmoil as a major and long-term risk, for which the outlook remains highly uncertain”.
Nicholas Ionnides, the deputy migration minister of Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency last month warned amid the war that the bloc “cannot overlook the possibility of a new refugee crisis”.
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
Hence then, the article about trump s war could mean more small boat asylum seekers was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Trump’s war ‘could mean more small-boat asylum seekers’ )
Also on site :