UNHCR releases latest Asylum Trends report for first six months of 2014, claims up overall but steady in the UK
Wars and conflict in countries such as Syria and Iraq has contributed to a 24 per cent increase in asylum claims in industrialised countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on September 26th.
UNHCR was launching its latest Asylum Trends report, which looks at the number of claims in 44 industrialised countries in Europe, North America and parts of the Asia-Pacific.
The latest report can be accessed here and covers the first six months of 2104.
According to the report, an estimated 330,700 new asylum applications were recorded between January and June 2014, some 64,300 claims or 24 per cent more than during the corresponding period of 2013.
The 38 countries in Europe recorded 264,000 asylum applications during the first six months of 2014. Of those, 216,300 were claims registered in the 28 Member States of the European Union.
The report says that Syria remained the main country of origin of asylum-seekers in industrialised countries, as the armed conflict further deteriorated in the course of 2014.
Iraq was the second largest source of asylum-seekers, and Afghanistan third. Eritrea was fourth, with UNHCR noting that the number of Eritrean asylum-seekers reached unprecedented levels during the first half of 2014, and some 229 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2013. Serbia, including Kosovo, provided the fifth most source of asylum-seekers.
The top five countries receiving asylum claims were: 1. Germany; 2. United States; 3. France; 4. Sweden; 5. Turkey.
Compared to 2013, Germany saw an increase of over 22,000 claims in the first half of the year. Big increases were also seen in Italy (over 14,000 up) and Sweden (just under 10,000 up).
The UK, however, saw only a modest increase of 120 claims in the first half of this year compared to last, and while France was in third place overall in the 44 industrialised countries, the number of claims decreased by 1,240.
The UNHCR warns that, based on historical norms of higher numbers of asylum-seekers in the second half of each year, 2014 could produce as many as 700,000 claims – the highest total for industrialised countries in 20 years and a level not seen since the 1990s conflict in former Yugoslavia.