Europe less welcoming?” “

“In the whole of Europe, the number of new asylum seekers has dropped by 18%. In the 14 countries of the European Union, their number has fallen by 15%”. In the first quarter of this year, 92,700 asylum applications were presented in the 29 industrialized European countries, registering a percentage drop of 16% over the previous quarter, when there were 110,600 asylum seekers. The figures are furnished by UNHCR, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which has reported a “drastic and progressive decrease, already begun in 2002”. World Refugee Day is due to be celebrated on 20 June. ASYLUM APPLICATIONS FALL FOR THE FIRST TIME. “It’s the first time in many years – Unhcr reports –that the number of asylum seekers in the listed countries has fallen below the quota of 100,000 per quarter. Only seven of the 29 countries taken into consideration have registered a growth in numerical level. Data for Italy are not available. The country that received most asylum applications was France with 15,740 applications. The country with the second highest number of applications is the United Kingdom, which dropped by 20% to 10,590 applications, followed by Germany, which fell by 12% to 10,170 applications. Among the other countries of asylum, substantial falls were registered in Sweden (25% lower with 6,242 applications) and Austria (24% lower with 5,920). Large decreases were also registered in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Norway, Poland and Slovakia. GROUPS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS. Russians – the majority of them from Chechnya – remain the largest asylum-seeker group with 7,508 applications, despite the fact that this figure reveals a drop of 26% over the previous quarter. Afghans and Iraqis – the two groups with most asylum seekers in 2001 and in 2002 – continue to decline substantially in number. Altogether, only five of the first forty nationalities of asylum seekers registered an increase: the number of Algerians grew by 30% with 2,626 applications, Haitians by 28% with 1,727 (almost two thirds of them went to the USA and a third to France) and Slovakians by 109% with 1,052 asylum applications (most went to Finland, Belgium and Germany). “EUROPE LESS WELCOMING”. The decline in the number of application “could suggest an improvement of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, but is more particularly an indication of how difficult it is to come to Europe both for those who migrate for economic reasons and for those for political reasons, due to the more restrictive measures of governments and the closing of frontiers”. That’s the comment made to Sir of John Dardis, regional director for Europe of the Brussels-based Jesuit Refugee Service. “It’s true – Dardis admits – that there are immigrants who request refugee status although they have no right to it, but our anxiety is that, due to these measures, it will be more difficult for genuine refugees to come to Europe. It’s dreadful to think that those who flee from their own countries due to torture and persecution cannot find a welcome here. It’s absurd both from the viewpoint of human rights, and from that of our history as Europeans and the liberties we enjoy. Unfortunately with terrorism and the problem of security the climate has changed. Europe is now less welcoming. There’s a great deal of mistrust. But it’s important that people be placed in a condition where they can distinguish between a refugee and a terrorist”. That’s why Dardis asks candidates in the European elections “to be informed of the problems, because there are too many stereotypes round so complex an issue. Politicians really need to assume responsibility for the situation”. POVERTY GROWS AMONG REFUGEES IN Gaza AND ON THE WEST BANK. There are now 4.1 million Palestinian refugees and their descendents in the world. The first few hundred thousands were forced to flee following the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948. A third of these refugees now live in camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank. The other two thirds live in towns and villages of the countries that have accepted them, often in the vicinity of the camps, which have become urban ghettoes, characterised by precarious sanitary conditions, high population density and chronic poverty. The Palestinian refugee problem has been put back on the agenda following the recent conference (7-8 June) held in Geneva by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa). The aim of the conference was to increase international aid for Palestinian refugees, already supported with programmes of primary education, medical treatment, social services and programmes of micro finance. According to Unrwa data, the number of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who receive food aid has grown since December 2000 (from 130,000 to 1,100,000). “During the same period – says Peter Hansen, Unrwa Commissioner – the percentage of Palestinians living below the poverty threshold has tripled, from 20% to 60%. There’s also been an increase in the number of those who use our basic health services”.