The UK has received one of the highest asylum applications in Europe in recent years, but it lags far behind some other smaller countries when population is taken into account.
Home Secretary Swella Braverman said Britain’s asylum system was “overwhelmed” by the number of people entering the country “illegally” and drew criticism from human rights groups.
Her comments came as the government unveiled a plan on Tuesday aimed at stopping migrants using small boats to reach UK shores.
Ms Braverman acknowledged that the long-promised canal crossing law “goes beyond international law” but told ministers she was confident the bill would be “consistent with international obligations.”
A person has the right to apply for asylum in any country that has signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and remain there until his application has been processed. Under section 3 of the Human Rights Law, asylum-seekers and refugees are protected from being returned to countries where they are in danger of being tortured, injured or killed.
According to the Refugee Council and other humanitarian organizations, there is no international law obliging refugees to seek asylum in the first country they enter.
“The government’s new legislation ignores the fundamental point that most people in small boats are men, women and children fleeing terror and slaughter in countries like Afghanistan, Iran and Syria,” said Enver Solomon, CEO of the Council on refugees.
“The plans will not stop border crossings, they will simply keep traumatized people trapped in a state of misery treated without due process of law as criminals and suspected terrorists on our soil.”
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said it was “deeply concerned” by the law as it would mean a ban on asylum.
“Based on the latest published figures from the Home Office, the vast majority of those who cross the English Channel to the UK in small boats will be accepted as refugees if their applications are considered,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
Declaring refugees unworthy because of the way they arrived distorts these basic facts.
Asylum applications in the UK and Europe
The UK received 74,751 asylum applications from 89,398 people and their dependents in 2022, the highest annual figure since 2002, according to government data.
This does not include Ukrainian citizens, about 154,500 of whom arrived in the UK last year on two schemes set up by the Home Office following the Russian invasion.
This figure makes the UK the fifth country in Europe in terms of the number of asylum applications in 2022, after Germany, France, Spain and Austria, according to Eurostat.
The figures show that last year Germany received nearly two and a half times as many asylum applications as the UK, with a total of 217,735 first-time asylum seekers. France received 137,505, Spain 116,140 and Austria 106,375 during the same period. The European figures also include dependents.
These figures also do not include Ukrainian refugees, more than a million of whom arrived in Germany last year, and a similar number who also turned to Poland for help.
Number of applications by population
Comparing the number of applications by population in 2021, the latest figures from the Oxford University Migration Observatory show that the UK received 8.4 applications per 10,000 population, ranking 19th in Europe, compared to Germany at 22.9, which was in eighth place.
Cyprus topped the list with 152.6 applications per 10,000 people in 2021, out of an estimated population of 896,000. It is followed by Austria (43.3), Malta (29.4), Greece (26.6), Slovenia (25.1), Liechtenstein (24.3) and Iceland (23.6).
The corresponding figures for France, Spain and Italy were 17.8 (11th), 13.8 (16th) and nine (18th).
Number of asylum or protection grants
The time it takes to process asylum applications and make a decision varies from country to country, with backlogs rising to around 166,000 in the UK last year.
Data from 2021 shows that the UK has granted asylum or some other form of protection to around 13,000 people (out of work), the sixth highest number in Europe, according to the Migration Observatory.
Germany topped the list with about 60,000 asylums, followed by France (nearly 34,000), Italy (more than 21,800), Spain (about 20,400) and Greece (16,570).
According to the UNHCR, the vast majority of refugees worldwide – about 73 percent – live in neighboring countries. According to the UNHCR, about 85 percent of the world’s refugees live in developing countries, and “not in rich industrialized countries”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK has a proud history of providing protection through our safe and legal channels to those who truly need it.
“But the public rightly expects us to stop the boats as the unacceptable number of people risking their lives at these dangerous crossings is putting an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.
“People should seek refuge in the first safe country they reach – that’s the fastest way to safety.”
Source: I News
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