Asylum applications in the countries of the European Union (EU) from citizens of Venezuela, Colombia and Peru reached almost record numbers and the total was higher than in previous years last year.
According to a report by the European Union Agency for Asylum, the 27 received more asylum applications between April 2022 and March 2023 than in recent years. In March of this year alone, there were 92,000 applications, 16 percent of which involved Venezuelan, Colombian and Peruvian citizens.
In March, there were 6,500 asylum seekers from Venezuela, 6,100 from Colombia and 2,200 from Peru, but there was also an increase in citizens from Turkey and Russia seeking asylum in one of the EU member states.
The number of requests in the last 12 months is surpassed only by those submitted during the migration crisis between 2015 and 2016.
In the first months of 2023 alone, there was a 31% increase compared to the first months of 2022, but the increase was 52% compared to 2019.
The report adds that it should be taken into account that there has been a decline in asylum applications from 2020, possibly due to the pandemic.
Part of the increase in the past year alone can also be explained by the temporary protection status granted to Ukrainian citizens who fled the country after the invasion of the Russian Federation began on February 24 last year.
Until March this year, there were 650,000 applications pending a decision, according to the European agency that monitors these processes, and the approval rate between February and March 2023 fell from 41% to 36%.
Of this total, 86,000 are Syrian citizens and 71,000 are Afghan citizens.
Source: DN
