UN reports fall in global asylum figures

The UN has reported that the number of asylum seekers arriving in industrialised countries has fallen for the third year in a row to reach the lowest level in 16 years.

In many countries, the total number of asylum seekers was at its lowest level for many years in 2004, according to the UN refugee agency. Germany reported the lowest number since 1984, the US and Switzerland, the lowest numbers since 1987 and the Netherlands, the lowest figure since 1988. The number of asylum seekers arriving in the UK also fell to the levels seen in the early and mid-Nineties, after falling 61% within two years.

Raymond Hall, Director of UNHCR's Europe Bureau said: "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. In most industrialized countries it should simply not be possible to claim there is a huge asylum crisis any more."

France was the country who received the most asylum seekers, with an estimated 61,600 arriving in 2004. The US was in second place, followed by the UK, Germany and Canada.

However, the report found that some smaller EU countries, such as Cyprus, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg and Ireland were all listed as top receiving countries in the 25-member EU.

Some countries, including Cyprus, Finland, the Republic of Korea, Malta, Poland and the Slovak Republic, also reported the highest number of asylum seekers on record for the country last year. The UN also reported that the 10 new EU member states actually saw their combined total of asylum seekers increase by 4% in the last year and by 18% in the last quarter of 2004, compared with the previous quarter.

Mr Hall said: "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."

He added: "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."

The number of asylum claims also dropped last year, the UN reported, by 19% in the EU, 26% in North America and 28% in Australia and New Zealand.

The largest group of asylum seekers were from the Russian Foundation, mainly Chechens.

They were followed by asylum seekers from Serbia and Montenegro, China, Turkey and India.

However, the number of Afghans seeking asylum fell last year, as did the number of Iraqis, although the UN said this number did begin to increase again halfway through 2004.

(KMcA/SP)