The countries of the European Union (EU), Switzerland and Norway registered the highest number of asylum applications in the past seven years in 2022, with a 50% increase over the previous year, according to official data released this Wednesday. .
A report from the EU Asylum Agency (AUEA) states that the group of countries has received 960,000 asylum applications, a volume not recorded since 2016 (1.2 million), when there was a large-scale migration from Syria.
The agency claims that the significant increase in 2022 can be “partly” explained by the suspension of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic. It can also be attributed to conflict situations and food insecurity in different parts of the world.
Syrians and Afghans are the two nationalities with the highest number of claims, accounting for almost 25% of total claims.
In the case of Syrians, 131,697 asylum applications were submitted, an increase of 24% compared to 2021. Afghans were responsible for 128,949 applications, an increase of 29% compared to the previous year.
Next are citizens of Turkey (55,437 requests), Venezuela (50,833), Colombia (43,279), and Pakistan (37,292).
AUEA figures indicate citizens of Ukraine submitted 28,318 asylum applications last year, although the European statistics agency Eurostat estimates that nearly four million Ukrainians have entered the EU since the start of the war in the country. These Ukrainians benefit from a temporary protection regime.
With the covid-19 pandemic, the bloc of countries has introduced severe travel restrictions that acted as a natural barrier to asylum applications.
The restrictions were lifted in 2022 with the advancement of the coronavirus vaccination program in European countries.
In total, the AUEA points out, the bloc recorded the arrival of 43,000 unaccompanied minors in 2022, which also represents the highest number since 2015.
Among Latin American countries, orders were also recorded from Peru (12,828), El Salvador (3,881), Cuba (3,347), Honduras (3,319), Haiti (2,988), Brazil (1,596), Ecuador (772) and the Dominican Republic ( 591).
Source: DN
