Britain third on asylum destination list
Britain received the third most asylum applications in the world in 2004, according to a new report from the UN’s refugee agency.
France toped the list, with the US in second, dropping from the top for the first time in two decades.
In terms of applications per head of population, Cyrus toped the list with the UK in 15th.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees found the number of asylum seekers in 38 industrialised nations dropped 368,000 in 2004, the fewest since 1988.
The 25-page UNHCR report said conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq largely accounted for the drop off.
The US saw 52,400 fewer asylum applicants in 2004, while the UK saw 40,200 fewer.
Behind Britain in the table was Germany with a drop off of 35,600 applicants. Canada was fifth with 25,500.
Britain received ten per cent of the total number of asylum seekers who arrived in industrialised countries, the UN said.
UN spokesman Rupert Colville explained: “It’s more that the US and Germany have fallen off than France gaining that much.
“Also, France is getting more people from Turkey, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while people fleeing Afghanistan and Iraq for the US and UK have gone way down.’
The largest number of asylum seekers in 2004 were from Russia (30,100), Serbia and Montenegro (22,300), China, (19,700), Turkey (16,200) and India (11,900).
Raymond Hall of UNHCR said it was no longer credible to claim a “huge” asylum crisis in most industrialised countries.
“This really should reduce the pressure by politicians, media and the public to make asylum systems more and more restrictive to the point where many genuine refugees have enormous difficulty getting access to Europe, or getting recognised once they are there.”
