Nearly 1 million EU asylum requests in 2022

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Around 1 million people applied for international protection in the European Union in 2022, according to data released Wednesday, raising the number of asylum requests to levels not seen since the 2015-2016 refugee crisis.

The EU Asylum Agency said there were 966,000 asylum applications in 27 EU countries last year, as well as Norway and Switzerland, a 50% increase from 2021. This does not include the more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees who have been granted temporary protection in the EU, a special mechanism activated to avoid the collapse of already delayed asylum systems.

The European Agency attributed the increase to the ongoing easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions, increased food insecurity and conflict in many parts of the world. While the majority of asylum seekers enter the EU legally, mostly by plane on tourist visas, some have also crossed EU land and sea borders without authorization, mainly through the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean.

After more than a decade of war and economic collapse in their country, Syrians continued to be the top nationality for asylum seekers in Europe, with more than 130,000 applications. They were followed closely by Afghans fleeing the mounting security, humanitarian and financial problems that followed the Taliban takeover in August 2021, with 129,000 requests.

In third place were applicants from Turkey, doubling their number from 55,000 requests. The agency said that among the factors believed to have caused the rise were soaring inflation and a “democratic rollback”.

In many places, reception centers are overcrowded and asylum seekers remain on the streets.

The recent earthquake that killed nearly 46,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless in Turkey and Syria has raised concerns about a possible increase in illegal border crossings with Greece. Earlier this month, Germany offered to temporarily ease visa restrictions for some earthquake survivors, while Spain promised to resettle a small group of 100 vulnerable Syrian refugees from Turkey, home to 4 million refugees.

The story goes on

Venezuelans, Colombians, Bangladeshis and Georgians filed a record number of asylum applications last year, as did Moroccans, Tunisians and Egyptians. About 4% of asylum seekers in 2022 said they were unaccompanied minors.

The European agency did not say which EU countries received the most applications last year. But in an internal EU migration report reviewed by the Associated Press, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Italy are in the top five.

Last year, the asylum authorities ruled on more than 600,000 applications, but they received even more new cases, adding to the existing backlog. Of the applications analyzed, 40% were granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, mainly to applicants from Syria, Belarus, Eritrea, Yemen and Mali, as well as the majority of Ukrainians who chose to apply for asylum instead of temporary protection.

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