TIRANA, May 2 – More than 1,000 unaccompanied Albanian minors sought asylum across Europe in 2015, with almost half of them in the UK, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
A Eurostat report published on Monday shows there were 455 unaccompanied Albanian minors seeking asylum in the United Kingdom in 2015, ranking third by country of origin after war-torn Eritreans and Afghans.
Minor asylum seekers in UK are generally placed in foster care by the local council or semi-independent accommodation. British authorities say most children are not granted refugee status but instead are given the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children grants which are a temporary measure that protect minors until they are 17 and a-half and many find themselves facing removal from the UK once they turn 18.
18-year-old Jetmir, who sought asylum as a minor in the UK from Albania, expresses his uncertainty best through his poetry, the BBC reported in an article last January.
“This is another different country with a different way. I don’t know where to go or even what to say.”
“I’ve left my family and my home, I had to make a trip and I have done it alone. I didn’t want to leave but people sometimes don’t have a choice. The only thing I have is myself and my voice,” he is quoted as saying.
Germany ranked second with 225 unaccompanied Albanian minors followed by Sweden with 210, Belgium with 40 and the Netherlands with 25.
There were also some 25 Albanian minors who sought asylum in Norway and Switzerland bringing the total number of Albanian unaccompanied asylum-seekers to 1,030.
The number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in 2015 almost quadrupled to 88,300 with the overwhelming majority of them originating from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Syria , Eritrea and Iraq.
Only 2.6 percent of Albanian asylum-seekers in EU member countries were granted asylum in 2015, according to an earlier Eurostat report.
Eurostat reports that of the 38,400 first instance decisions issued to Albanians from April to December 2015, only about 740 were positive.
Over 65,000 Albanians applied for asylum in EU countries last year accounting for 5 percent of asylum claims filed in 2015, according to earlier Eurostat data.
Albania was the fifth main country of origin of asylum seekers in the European Union in 2015 after Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Germany was the most attractive destination for Albanian asylum seekers with 53,805 asylum claims registered, or 12 percent of all asylum seekers in Germany, the second highest number after Syria. France and Sweden received the second and third highest number of applications from Albanian nationals with 3,220 and 2,565 pending applications respectively in 2015.
Last year, Germany witnessed a surge in asylum claims from Albanian nationals after rumors spread that the country needed workers. However, chances asylum will be granted for Albanian citizens are exceptionally low as Albania has been designated as a safe country of origin by German authorities.
