Russian asylum seekers increase while Iraqis decrease, reports UNHCR

GENEVA, Dec 2 (UNHCR) - The number of people applying for asylum in industrialised countries has continued to drop, with Iraqis leading the fall and Russians bucking the trend, said the UN refugee agency today as it released its asylum statistics for the third quarter of 2003.

According to the UNHCR report, which covered 29 industrialised countries excluding Italy, the number of asylum applicants was 20 percent lower for the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, and 24 percent lower compared to the same time frame in 2001. Within the European Union, numbers were down 21 percent compared to the same period last year, and 22 percent lower than in 2001.

Comparing quarters, there was a slight increase of 9 percent in applicants in this year's third quarter (July to September), compared to the previous quarter (April to June).

Russian nationals marked the most significant increase, with 23,681 asylum applications over the first nine months of the year. Their steep and steady rise - from over 5,000 in the first quarter to 7,700 in the second to nearly 11,000 in the third - has made them the top group of asylum seekers in industrialised nations, a position previously held by the Iraqis.

"We can't say for sure how many of those described as Russian nationals are Chechens," said UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville in Geneva on Tuesday. "However, we have indications from some of the countries receiving the biggest numbers that the great majority are Chechens."

More than half the Russian claims were lodged in three countries - Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland - with sizeable numbers also arriving in Belgium, Germany, Norway and Slovakia.

Meanwhile, Iraqi applications fell from 11,000 in the first quarter, when they were the top group of asylum seekers, to 4,100 in the third quarter, when they were the sixth-largest group. Over the whole nine-month period, they still form the second-largest group, after the Russians.

Among countries of asylum, the United Kingdom had the largest number of asylum applicants (47,900) over the nine-month period, although this is 39 percent fewer than the same period last year. The United States, the second-largest asylum country with 43,600 applicants, also saw a 32-percent drop compared to the same time frame last year.

In general, all other major receiving countries saw similar or lower numbers of asylum seekers in the first nine months of this year compared to last year, with the exception of Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic.