Eritrea: Worldwide 23 300 new asylum claims from Eritrea in first half of 2014

The UN refugee agency on Tuesday reported that war in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere had uprooted an estimated 5.5 million people during the first six months of 2014, signalling a further rise in the number of people forcibly displaced.

Germany received with 67 400 the highest number of new asylum applications worldwide during the first six months of 2014. Syrians lodged almost one fifth (18%), or 12,100, of these claims.

The UNHCR estimated that if current trends continue, Germany is likely to record its highest annual level of asylum claims in almost 20 years.

According to the agency, the number of new asylum claims made by Eritreans in Germany was 3900 in the first half of 2014. For the same period the number of new applications from Eritreans worldwide was 23 300.

Among the main nationalities lodging applications for international protection, Total Recognition Rates were around or significantly above 80 per cent for asylum-seekers from the Syrian Arab Republic, Eritrea, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, and the Central African Republic, the UNHCR said.

The biggest host country remains Pakistan with 1.6 million Afghan refugees in absolute terms.

Other countries with large refugee populations are Lebanon (1.1 million), Iran (982,000), Turkey (824,000), Jordan (737,000), Ethiopia (588,000), Kenya (537,000) and Chad (455,000).

By comparing the number of refugees to the size of a country’s population or economy, the UNHCR’s report put the contribution made by host nations into context:

Relative to the sizes of their populations Lebanon and Jordan host the largest number of refugees, while relative to the sizes of their economies the burdens carried by Ethiopia and Pakistan are greatest.