03 December 2003 01:50
Surge in Chechen asylum seekers as overall refugee claims decline UNHCR:
The number of people seeking asylum in European and other industrialised
countries has fallen sharply this year, but there has been an upsurge in the
number fleeing the war-torn Russian republic of Chechnya, the United Nations
refugee agency said yesterday.
Russian asylum seekers, "the great majority" of whom are thought to
be Chechens, have now displaced Iraqis as the largest group of applicants for
refugee status in the 29 industrialised countries for which the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees has statistics.
Applications from Russian nationals totalled 23,681 in the first nine months
of 2003, more than doubling from just above 5,000 in the first quarter to
nearly 11,000 in the third quarter.
More than half the claims have been lodged in Austria, Poland and the Czech
Republic. Sizeable numbers are also going to Germany, Norway, Slovakia and
Belgium.
However, UNHCR notes there may be some double counting, since "a
significant number" of Russian asylum seekers move on and lodge new
applications before their claims in Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic
are adjudicated.
Asylum applications from Iraqis have fallen from 11,100 in the first quarter,
when they were the largest group seeking refugee status, to 4,100 in the
third quarter. Over the nine months, they remain the second largest group
after the Russians.
UNHCR said this year had seen a steep decline in asylum seekers from
Afghanistan, Serbia and Montenegro, China and Turkey, but applications from
Pakistanis and Somalis had risen.
Overall, asylum applications in industrialised countries fell by a fifth to
343,570 in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period
in 2002.
The UK tops the league for asylum seekers this year (47,900), followed by the
US (43,600), Germany (38,900) and France (37,200). However, the number of
applications in the UK dropped 39 per cent from last year's level for
the first nine months. Applications to the US and Germany fell by 32 per cent
and 28 per cent. www.unhcr.ch
[FTI [The Financial Times]] |
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