Asylum seekers in industrialized countries decrease in 2nd quarter - UN agency

The number of asylum seekers in industrialized countries decreased almost across the board in the second quarter of this year, with asylum applications from Iraqis seeing the most dramatic drop, the UN refugee agency said today.

Applications in 29 industrialised countries, excluding Italy, for the period between April and June saw a drop of 12 per cent - 106,850 compared with 121,910 during the first three months of the year - while the number of Iraqis seeking asylum fell 43 per cent compared to the first quarter, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

But Iraqis still remain the largest asylum-seeking nationality over the first six months, at 17,500. This compares with 26,000 in the last six months of last year.

"Almost all the major countries of asylum are receiving fewer asylum seekers this year compared to last year," UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva. "Of the top 20 countries of origin, only four have shown a slight increase. All the others have decreased."

Altogether, the number of applications during the first half of 2003 was 19 per cent lower than during the first six months of 2002, and 22 per cent lower than the second half of last year.

In the European Union, and in Europe overall, the new figures were the lowest since UNHCR started collecting quarterly data at the beginning of 1999. During the second quarter of this year, the EU countries saw a drop of 16 per cent, to 66,260, following on from a 17 per cent drop in the first quarter. The number in North America also dropped by 12 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

By country of asylum, the most significant quarterly decreases were recorded in the United Kingdom (down 34 per cent), Spain and Ireland (both down 31 per cent), Germany (down 24 per cent) and Sweden (down 22 per cent).

The biggest increase in asylum applications was among Russians, who rose 54 per cent to become the largest group overall during the second quarter. The number of Russian applicants (including Chechens) rose particularly sharply in Austria and the Czech Republic. During the first six months, 12,700 Russians sought asylum in the 29 industrialized countries surveyed, while the figure for the whole of 2002 was around 20,000.