São Paulo – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released this Wednesday (25th) the report Asylum Trends 2014 with the estimation that, last year, 866,000 people requested asylum to developed countries. This number is the highest since 1992, when the clashes started at Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to the UN’s website, the hike on asylum requests in 2014 was due to the wars in Syria and Iraq, as well as other armed conflicts, human rights violation and deterioration of humanitarian and safety conditions in other countries. The numbers indicate an increase of 45% over 2013, when 596,600 applications were registered.
“In the 1990s, the Balkan War generated hundreds of thousands of displacements and asylum requests”, emphasized António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, according to the organization’s website.
“A lot of these people were able to get refuge in developed countries in Europe and America, among other countries. Today, the outbreak of conflicts around the world poses similar challenges to us, especially the dramatic situation is Syria. Our answer to it today should be as generous as at that time – guarantee access to refuge, opportunity for resettlement and other forms of protection for the people fleeing these terrible conflicts”, he added.
The Syrians were the main group of refuge applicants last year, with almost 150,000 requests, one in every five refuge applications in the developed countries. The Iraqis made 68,700 requests , almost double the number of 2013. Afghans stood in third, with almost 60,000 requests, followed by citizens of Serbia (and from Kosovo) and Eritreans.
Germany, United States, Turkey, Sweden and Italy were the countries included in the report that received the most refuge applications in 2014. Germany received 173,000 requests, 25% of Syrians. While in the United States, 121,200 requests were made, the majority from Mexico and Central America countries.
Turkey received 87,800 new requests in 2014, the majority from Iraqis, while Sweden had 75,100 requests, the majority of these from Syrians and Eritreans. Italy got 63,700 requests, the highest number ever registered in the country, the majority from Mali, Nigeria and Gambia citizens.
The report Asylum Trends 2014 includes data sent by 44 countries in Europe, North America and parts of the Asian Pacific.
*Translation by Sérgio Kakitani
