Tucker Comparative Migration Studies (2018) 6:29
to be, very popular asylum countries in Europe. The figures reflect this, with the
two countries receiving the majority of asylum applications between 2013 and 2016
(Eurostat, 2017b).
Due to the lack of data on those identified as stateless, it is not possible to know for sure
how many of these applications were from PRS. It has been reported that from 2012 to
2016, 698 PRS were granted asylum in Germany, though no information on pending
decisions or the granting of other protection statuses is available ("Palestinian Refugees
Multiple Displacement," 2017, p. 25). While no specific information on the PRS in Sweden
is collected, between 2012 and 2016, 26,1268 asylum applications from those classified as
stateless were recorded (Statistics Sweden, 2017). Thousands more were recorded as having unknown nationality, a result of the lack of law or policy for the Swedish Migration
Agency (Migrationsverket) to draw on in establishing the statelessness of refugees (Tucker,
2017). The Swedish and German migration authorities can draw on institutional memory
here, as there is a history of Palestinian refugee/migratory flows to the two countries. Both
host sizable Palestinian diaspora who arrived from Lebanon during the civil war in the
mid 1970s to the 1990s and in waves from Iraq between 1990 to today (Doraï, 2003;
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2016).
It could be read that the PRS are just a narrow reflection of a wider migration trend
to Germany or Sweden. The available data, while limited, would suggest that this may
not be the case. In 2015 and 2017 Germany received by far the largest amount of asylum seekers from Syria (Eurostat, 2018). However, if we look at the period from 2011
to 2017 one can see a significant amount of variation and spread in the European asylum destinations of asylum seekers from Syria (Eurostat, 2018).
The data on the destination countries of PRS in Europe is limited. When they are identified they are normally classified as stateless, or a variation thereof, with Syria as their
country of origin. Therefore, we can only turn to the available data on all stateless asylum
seekers. This shows that during the same period there was significantly less variation in
the destinations of this sub group of asylum seekers. Sweden received the majority of the
stateless asylum seekers in Europe during the period 2011 to 2017 (Eurostat, 2018). States
who have a history of receiving and recognising certain groups of stateless asylum seekers,
such as The Netherlands, France and Denmark, also received steady numbers which were
proportionate to the overall asylum numbers throughout the period (Eurostat, 2018).
Thus, stateless asylum seekers seem to follow different migration trajectories than
non-stateless asylum seekers in Europe. This is an area of enquiry that requires further research as it would be interesting to compare the movement of stateless and non-stateless
asylum seekers from the same country of origin.
Factors affecting asylum destinations
When considering the literature on asylum destinations, what can be described as the
classical view claimed that, being forced to flee, asylum seekers and refugees had little
agency in their choice of destination (Böcker & Havinga, 1997). This position has been
the subject of criticism, with the role of agency and choice being recognised in this
decision-making process (Zolberg, Suhrke, & Agyayo, 1989).
More recently, country specific studies, such as that of Brekke and Aarset (2009) for
Norway, or Robinson and Segrott (2002) for the United Kingdom, have proved
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