The percentage of declared Syrians among all of the migrants landing on the Greek islands has fallen considerably in the last several months. Although the share of migrants who declared being from Syria stood at 56% in the entire 2015, they accounted for 39% of all the migrants arriving in Greece in December. Their share of the monthly detections stood at 43% in November and 51% in October.
“With an increased presence of Frontex and additional Greek officers, we’re seeing improved screening of migrants, which means that the number of people who were able to claim false nationality has been reduced,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
“It is important to note, of course, that Frontex can only help to assess the nationalities of the arriving migrants and the likelihood that some of them may be in need of protection. But Frontex is not in charge of asylum procedures and our figures do not indicate who ends up applying for asylum.”
Frontex currently deploys nearly 400 officers and other staff assisting in registering migrants on the Greek islands.
While the percentage of Syrians has dropped, the share of Iraqis among the monthly arrivals in Greece increased over the last quarter to 25% in December, more than double the 11% in October and 12% in November.
The average share of Afghans represent between one quarter and one third of the total number of detected migrants at this external border.
There were more than 880 000 illegal border crossings detected in Greece in 2015.