17/3/2006
Halving of Asylum Applications Since 2001 May be Caused by Increasingly Restrictive Asylum Policies, Says UNCHR

A fifty per cent drop in asylum applications indicates that the so-called growing asylum problem does not reflect the reality of the actual situation on the ground, a UN official suggested last week.

In the last five years, the number of asylum seekers arriving in all industrialized countries has fallen by half, according to UNCHR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. This they attributed partly to more stable situations in many areas of the world but also to increasingly restrictive asylum policies.

High Commissioner António Guterres said: "With the numbers of asylum seekers at a record low, industrialised countries are now in a position to devote more attention to improving the quality of their asylum systems, from the point of view of protecting refugees, rather than cutting numbers.

"Despite public perceptions, the majority of refugees in the world are still hosted by developing countries such as Tanzania, Iran and Pakistan.

"Indeed, industrialized countries should be asking themselves whether by imposing ever tighter restrictions on asylum seekers they are not closing their doors to men, women and children fleeing persecution."

UNCHR added that the total number of asylum seekers arriving last year in the 38 industrialized countries was the lowest since 1987, at 331,600.

"We are concerned that the drive to keep the number of asylum seekers as low as possible may be resulting in some genuine refugees being denied the protection they need," UNHCR chief spokesperson Ron Redmond said.

Despite a 15 per cent drop in asylum claims last year, France was the top receiving country in 2005, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany – the leading asylum country in Europe for much of the 1980's and 1990's – in fourth place.

Canada and the United States received 54 per cent fewer asylum requests in 2005 than in 2001, while asylum applications in Australia and New Zealand plummeted by 75 per cent in the same period.

The largest group of asylum seekers in 2005 was from Serbia and Montenegro, including people from Kosovo; followed by the Russian Federation, including those from Chechnya. China remained the third largest country of origin for asylum seekers, followed by Iraq and Turkey