Law
watch
Unhcr
Report
Asylum
claims fall to lowest level
The number of asylum seekers arriving in industrialized
countries fell sharply for the third year in a row in
2004, reaching its lowest level for 16 years, according
to annual figures released by the UN refugee agency.
The
total number of asylum seekers arriving last year in the
38 industrialized countries for which comparable historical
statistics are available was the lowest since 1988, at
368,000. In the six non-European countries included in
this list, the combined total was the lowest since 1986.
The numbers arriving in Europe are also back down to the
levels of the late 1980s, although still higher than they
were for a couple of years in the mid-1990s.
The
number of asylum claims in industrialized countries fell
by 22 percent in 2004, compounding a similarly steep decline
last year. In the EU, the number fell by 19 percent, in
North America by 26 percent and in Australia and New Zealand
by 28 percent.
In
most individual asylum countries, the 2004 total was the
lowest for many years. In Germany, for example, the number
is the lowest since 1984; in the U.S. and Switzerland,
the lowest since 1987; and in the Netherlands, the lowest
since 1988. And the number of asylum seekers arriving
in the U.K. is back down to the levels of the early to
mid 1990s, after plummeting 61 percent in two years.
"This
really should reduce the pressure by politicians, media
and the public to make asylum systems more and more restrictive
to the point where many genuine refugees have enormous
difficulty getting access to Europe, or getting recognized
once they are there," said Raymond Hall, Director
of UNHCR's Europe Bureau. "In most industrialized
countries it should simply not be possible to claim there
is a huge asylum crisis any more."
The
top receiving country in 2004 was France, with an estimated
61,600 asylum seekers. The United States, which was top
receiving country last year, came second with 52,400.
The UK fell to third with 40,200, and Germany -- the top
asylum country in 13 of the past 20 years was in fourth
place with 35,600. Canada came in fifth with 25,500.
A
very different picture emerges when the number of asylum
seekers is looked at relative to the size of the hosting
country (as measured by total population). Using a per
capita formula over the past five years, UNHCR ranks Cyprus,
Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg and Ireland as the top receiving
countries in the 25-member EU, with the UK, France and
Germany all coming in mid-table.
For
a few of the countries listed, including Cyprus, Finland,
the Republic of Korea, Malta, Poland and the Slovak Republic,
the number of asylum seekers in 2004 was the highest on
record. Hidden among the general steep fall in numbers
across the industrialized world, is the fact that the
10 new EU member states actually saw their combined total
increase by 4 percent in 2004 (and by 18 percent in the
last quarter of the year, compared to the previous quarter).
"Hopefully,
with the numbers right down, most countries will now be
able to devote more attention to improving the quality
of their asylum systems, from the point of view of protecting
refugees, rather than just cutting numbers," said
Hall. "The EU could also take a giant step forward
by working towards a system of responsibility and burden
sharing, so that next time there is a crisis they are
in a much better position to help the worst affected among
them. Even though they are generally much lower, the numbers
are still very uneven across the EU. We need to watch
what is happening in the new member states very carefully.
Cyprus, the Slovak Republic and Malta are all countries
with young asylum systems that are struggling to cope."
The
largest group of asylum seekers in 2004 was from the Russian
Federation (30,100), the majority of whom are Chechens;
followed by asylum seekers from Serbia and Montenegro
(22,300), many of them from Kosovo; China (19,700); Turkey
(16,200) and India (11,900). The ten leading asylum-seeker
nationalities all recorded a significant drop in 2004.
Perhaps most striking, the number of Afghans - the top
group in 2001 with more than 50,000 asylum seekers - has
fallen by 83 percent in the past three years. They now
stand in 13th place with 8,800 asylum seekers in 2004.
"This
is a clear reflection of the impact a concerted effort
to improve conditions in the region of origin can have
on the numbers seeking asylum further afield," said
Hall. "When Afghans saw things improving at home,
they started going home in big numbers instead of traveling
to Europe and beyond."
The
number of Iraqi asylum seekers has also fallen by 80 percent
since 2002. However, half way through 2004 the number
of Iraqis claiming asylum started to rise again, though
not enough to lift them above ninth in the list of asylum-seeking
nationalities by the end of the year.
Source:
UNHCR.
