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Number of UK asylum applications at lowest level since 1993, says UNHCR
LONDON, 17 March 2006 (UNHCR)- The number of people claiming asylum in the United Kingdom has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years, according to preliminary annual figures released today by the UN refugee agency.
Last year, 30,500 applications for asylum were submitted in the UK, 70 percent fewer than in 2002, when Britain was the main destination for people seeking asylum in the industrialised world when 103,000 claimants arrived.
In the last five years, the number of asylum requests in 50 industrialised countries has declined by almost 50 per cent, the lowest level recorded in almost two decades. In 2005, 336,000 applications were submitted worldwide, 15 percent lower than in 2004.
In the 25 countries of the European Union, as well as in Europe as a whole, the number of asylum seekers last year was the lowest since 1988.
"These figures show that talk in the industrialised countries of a growing asylum problem does not reflect the reality," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. "Indeed, industrialised countries should seriously ask themselves whether by imposing ever tighter restrictions on asylum seekers they are not closing their doors to men, women and children fleeing persecution."
Despite a 15 percent drop in asylum claims last year, France was the top receiving country in 2005, with an estimated 50,000 new asylum seekers. The United States came second with 48,800 new asylum claims. The UK was third and Germany - the leading asylum country in Europe for much of the 1980s and 1990s - was in fourth place with 28,900. Austria came in fifth with 22,500.
The largest drop in the number of asylum seekers in the last five years was recorded outside Europe. Canada and the United States received 54 percent fewer asylum requests in 2005 than in 2001, while asylum applications in Australia and New Zealand plummeted by 75 percent in the same period.
"With the numbers of asylum seekers at a record low, industrialized 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," said Guterres. "Despite public perceptions, the majority of refugees in the world are still hosted by developing countries such as Tanzania, Iran and Pakistan."
The largest group of asylum seekers arriving in industrialised countries in 2005 was from Serbia and Montenegro, which includes asylum seekers from Kosovo; followed by the Russian Federation, which includes asylum seekers from Chechnya. China remained the third largest country of origin for asylum seekers, followed by Iraq and Turkey.
Of the ten leading asylum-seeker nationalities, Iraqis and Haitians rose the sharpest in 2005, both by 27 per cent, while the number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Turkey continued to drop steadily.
When the number of asylum seekers is looked at in proportion to a country's total population, a very different picture emerges. Using a per capita formula over the past five years, UNHCR ranks Cyprus, Austria, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland as the top receiving countries, with the UK, Italy, France and Germany all coming in mid-table.
In 2005, only 10 countries received more than 10,000 asylum requests (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States), compared with 15 countries in 2001.
All figures should be considered as provisional and subject to change.
The full statistical report by UNHCR's Field Information and Coordination Support Section can be found on www.unhcr.org
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