United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced the launch of a report regarding the asylum trends phenomenon in 2012. 44 countries were included in the report. According to the UNHCR data, in 2012 there were 479,300 asylum requests in the analyzed countries. According to UNHCR, this is an annual record number after 2003 and reflects the obvious increasing tendency from year to year, starting with 2006.

Migration specialists believe that newer or older conflicts such as those in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia contributed to the increasing number of applications for asylum in developed countries. In 2012, this led to an 8% increase in the number of asylum applications in industrialized countries. The most significant growth was in the number of applications filed by Syrian citizens. "Wars are increasingly pushing more people to seek asylum. And it emphasizes more than ever the need to support the international asylum system. In times of conflict, they call on countries to maintain open borders for those fleeing to save their lives", said António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in a press release.

Main asylum seekers, from Afghanistan and Syria

Afghanistan is, according to the report, the main country of origin of asylum seekers, with 36.600 requests in 2012 (36,200) in 2011. The second country in this respect is Syria, the conflict there reflecting in a 191% increase in the number of asylum applicants, reaching 24.800. Serbia and Kosovo were third with 24.300 requests, the increase being 14% in this case. Even Asians requested asylum, most being from China (24,100) and Pakistan (23,200). As for Pakistan, the increase in 2012 was of 21%, compared to 2011. Japan and Korea have 3,700 new requests in 2011, a 28% increase compared to 2011.

United States have the most asylum requests

The number of people who seek asylum in Australia has increased significantly with 37%, reaching a total of 15,800 requests registered in 2012. But according to the UNHCR Report regarding asylum trends – 2012, the biggest number of asylum requests continues to be registered in the United States, with 83,400 requests – 7,400 more than in 2011. Most people who seek asylum come from China (24%), Mexico (17%) and El Salvador (7%).

Europe, the main destination of asylum seekers in 2012

The number of asylum requests registered in 38 European countries in 2012 was 355,500, compared to 2011, when there were 327,600. According to the UNHCR report, Europe was the main destination for refugees in 2012. Germany was the first with the biggest number of requests – 64,500, France second with 54,900 requests and Sweden third with 43,900 requests.

Compared to 2011, all three countries registered an increased trend. In Germany, the increase is 41%, in France 5%, and Sweden 48%. And Switzerland is worth mentioning, since an increase of 33% in the number of applications (25,900) places the country at the same level with the United Kingdom (27,400). Of the seven countries in the region, most asylum applications were registered by Poland, with 9,180 applications, and the least in Slovenia - 260.

Romania in the UNHCR Report

UNHCR report on asylum trends phenomenon - 2012 reveals that Romania has registered an increasing trend in the number of asylum applications in recent years. In 2010, 860 applications were submitted, in 2011 their number was two times higher compared to the previous year (1,720 applications), and in 2012 the number reached 2,510 asylum applications. Regarding the country of origin, the situation has changed slightly from year to year, depending on existing conflicts at the time. In 2011, most asylum seekers were from Algeria (456), Morocco (219), Tunisia (218) and Pakistan (144). In 2012, the majority of applicants came from Algeria (600), Morocco (350), Pakistan (335), to which Syria (256) was added. Compared with other countries in the region, in 2012 Romania received 2,510 asylum applications, while Hungary had 2,160, Bulgaria 1,230, the Czech Republic 520, Slovakia 550 and Slovenia 260. Poland had the highest number of asylum applications: 9,180. In all seven countries in the region: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, 16,410 people applied for asylum in 2012, representing an increase of 25% compared to the previous year. During 2008 - 2012, 7,100 asylum seekers came to our country, Romania being thus third in the group of seven Central European countries which are distributed by the UNHCR regional representative, based in Budapest.

UNHCR will make public the next report regarding global asylum trends in June 2013.

Source: http://www.unhcr-centraleurope.org/ro/stiri/2013/conflictul-din-siria-contribuie-la-cresterea-numarului-de-solicitari-de-azil-in-tarile-industrializate.html