In 2022, 966 thousand refugees arrived in Europe and applied for international protection, 50% more than in 2021. It is a new maximum since 2016. The main asylum seekers are Syrians, Afghans and Turks, but there are many other nationalities with high numbers.
It is a sharp increase in the number of orders, partly due to restrictions on movement during the first year of the pandemic. But it is also a result of worsening conflicts and food insecurity in many parts of the world, the technicians of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) explain in the annual report released this Wednesday. It also records many pending cases, the highest number since 2017.
In addition to the nearly million asylum seekers, there are four million people who have fled Ukraine and do not need a visa, who benefit from the status of temporary protection.
In Portugal, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine (one year ago tomorrow), the Foreigners and Borders Service has granted 58,043 temporary protection to Ukrainian citizens and foreigners residing in that country. Of these, 33,900 are women and 24,143 are men. Minors account for 14,111 of the total.
Syrians (132,000) and Afghans (129,000) remain by far the largest group of applicants. The EUAA defends the special protection of these civilians and underlines that “the restrictions imposed on Afghan women by the Taliban amount to persecution”.
In the second largest group of applications are Turks (55,000), Venezuelans (51,000), Colombians (43,000) – who submitted three times as many applications as in 2021 -, Bangladeshis (34,000) and Georgians (29,000).
At lower levels, there are applications from India (26,000), Morocco (22,000), Tunisia (21,000), Egypt (15,000) and Moldova (8,300).
Last year, the authorities responsible for granting asylum in the EU issued 632,000 first instance decisions, a fifth more than in 2021. However, the number of applications increased much more, implying an increase in the number of pending cases. In December, 636,000 cases were awaiting the judgment in the first instance, 44% more than in 2021.
The consent rate was 40% in 2022, five percentage points more than in 2021, a five-year record. Two out of five migrants were granted refugee status (147,000) or subsidiary protection status on humanitarian grounds (106,000).
Recognition rates were especially high for Syrians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Eritreans, Yemenis and Malians. They were particularly low (less than 4%) for citizens from countries including India, North Macedonia, Moldova, Vietnam, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Nepal, the vast majority of whom immigrate for economic reasons.
The Agency has strengthened support mechanisms, thanks to the implementation of the Common European Asylum Agreement in 202. The number of countries benefiting from EUAA operational support has quadrupled since 2019 to 13 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy , Malta, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Spain More than 1 500 staff were seconded.
Source: DN
