Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Environment
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Requests for asylum in West climb 12 percent: UNHCR
Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:08am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - An estimated 383,000 asylum seekers lodged applications to stay in the West in 2008, a 12 percent rise on 2007 as more Somalis and Afghans fled fighting in their homelands, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Refugees from Iraq and elsewhere are now seeking permanent shelter in a wider variety of destinations, possibly because traditional countries of asylum such as Sweden have adopted stricter policies, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Nearly 40,500 Iraqis sought asylum abroad in 2008, keeping them at the top of the list for a third straight year, the UNHCR said in a new report.
Iraqi applications were down 10 percent, but were filed further afield, in 37 Western nations. "This suggests that people seeking international protection are searching for it in a larger number of countries," the U.N. agency said.
Iraqi requests lodged in Sweden plummeted 67 percent because of more restrictive asylum policies, but the number nearly tripled in neighboring Norway, and quadrupled in Finland, it said.
Somalis were the second largest group overall, filing 21,800 applications in industrialized countries led by Italy -- a 77 percent increase from the previous year and "a reflection of the deteriorating situation in the country," the UNHCR said.
Russian nationals followed at 20,500, with neighboring Poland a prime destination, according to the agency.
Afghans filed 18,500 asylum requests, almost double the figure from the previous year, with Britain, Turkey and Greece their main destinations. UNHCR attributed the increase to intensifying conflict in Afghanistan.
Chinese nationals lodged 17,400 applications, a relatively stable number, with more than half of them submitted in the United States, according to the UNHCR. Nigerians (13,700), Pakistanis (13,300), Eritreans (12,300), Mexicans (12,200) and Iranians (10,800) were other major groups who filed applications in 51 countries in 2008.
Europe received close to 290,000 of the overall claims, a 13 percent rise on the previous year, it said. The United States registered 49,000 applications, a 3 percent drop from 2007, but it remained the main country of destination for asylum seekers of all nationalities last year, accounting for 13 percent of requests, according to UNHCR.
However, the United States had only one asylum seeker per 1,000 inhabitants, against an EU average of 2.4 per 1,000.
Canada saw a dramatic 30 percent rise, mainly linked to higher numbers of Mexican and Haitian asylum-seekers, becoming the second most popular destination with 36,900 requests, according to the UNHCR.
France had 35,200 asylum requests, the third highest number and main destination in Europe, with a large influx from Mali.
Italy ranked fourth, with applications more than doubling to reach a record 31,200, mainly attributed to large numbers of irregular migrants arriving by boat on the island of Lampedusa.
Britain followed with 30,500, up 8 percent, to rank fifth. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Cheers, rose petals as Pakistan's top judge returns
Also on Reuters
U.S. rehab centers see bankers driven to drink
Google deal machine adjusts to slow times
Reuters Summit: Alternative energy won't fight recession
More International News
Netanyahu, Barak draft Israel coalition pact
| Video
North Korea warns against U.N. action on rocket
IAEA to vote for new chief, stalemate possible
Syria appoints first ambassador to Lebanon
| Video
Two U.S. reporters moved to North Korean capital: report
More International News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
David Letterman secretly married
China's last eunuch spills sex secrets
Brain differences mark those with depression risk
UPDATE 1-IMF says clean up banks to tackle dire world crisis
The Nano, world's cheapest car, to hit Indian roads | Video
Plane in deadly Montana crash was crowded | Video
CORRECTED: AIG employees hand over bonuses: NYAG Cuomo
U.S. recession to last into 2010: Feldstein
Obama calls for global action to end downturn | Video
AIG furor may have helped funds in U.S. toxic plan
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Geithner details toxic assets plan
Hello to Tata Nano
Food coop grows in crisis
Japan cargo plane crashes
Montana plane crash kills 17
"Peoples' car" Nano launched
Robot takes to Tokyo runway
Fire threatens Kenya wildlife
Alaska's Mt. Redoubt erupts
Robin Williams' surgery
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Your opinion matters
We want to hear from you Learn More
Take Reuters online survey
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Reuters in Second Life |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.