Highlights
• The number of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers registered in Turkey increased slightly in April, to over 3.3 million. Of these, nearly 3 million are Syrians– including over 1.3 million children – while the remaining 310,000 are nationals primarily from Iraq and Afghanistan.
• UNICEF established 30 child-friendly interview rooms in 23 cities to promote the best interests of children in contact with the law, including protection against hardship and stress associated with judicial proceedings.
• Since January 2017, UNICEF and the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) have trained more than 37,000 Turkish teachers in 81 provinces on the provision of education for Syrian children.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The number of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers registered in Turkey increased slightly in April, to over 3.3 million. Of these, nearly 3 million are Syrians – including over 1.3 million children – while the remaining 310,000 are nationals primarily from Iraq (133,886) and Afghanistan (131,588).
Though the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants has remained relatively stable over the past 18 months – with much of the increase attributable to new-borns and a cleaning of registration logs – the scale and scope of the refugee crisis continues to put considerable strain on the country’s basic services and infrastructure, particularly in host communities.
Meanwhile, despite warming weather and calmer seas the number of unregistered refugees and migrants attempting to cross into Europe remained at its lowest-ever levels. According to UNHCR, 1,156 people arrived in Greece in April, approximately 30% of whom were children.2 An additional 1,985 people were rescued or apprehended while attempting to cross by land and sea. 3 Reports from partners on the ground indicate that strict border enforcement, as well as ongoing uncertainty on the status of migrants and refugees in the EU, are responsible for the continued limited outflow. Under the framework of the EU-Turkey Statement, four rounds of returns took place in April for 150 people (including two accompanied Pakistani children), bringing the total number of people re-admitted to Turkey since the Statement came into effect, to 1,094.