Why?
Stefan Kessler, from JRS-Germany, comments:
"It is difficult to speculate about the reasons for the decrease of the number of asylum applications, but we think that there might be two main reasons. Firstly, the governments' efforts to close Fortress Europe have become more and more effective and successful. Border controls and the concept of reception centres block a lot of people from entering the EU and applying for asylum. Germany in particular "gains" from her eastern neighbours having become EU Member States and part of the Dublin system. As Poland, Slovakia etc. also try to negotiate readmission agreements with their eastern neighbours, asylum seekers find it more and more difficult to enter the EU without being caught on the way. Secondly, at the same time, it may be that more and more people who enter the EU illegaly and never apply for asylum knowing that under the current legal system they do not have a chance to be recognized as refugees."

Louise Zanre, JRS-UK:
"JRS UK is very concerned at the dramatic drop in numbers of asylum seekers to the UK. It is our opinion that the repeated strengthening of border controls into the UK and the EU, imposition of visa conditions, and carrier liability penalties have all contributed to the denial of access to asylum in the UK. While it might be politically attractive and expedient to impose everharsher border controls, it is a short sighted measure which drives desperate individuals who need protection into the hands of smugglers and traffickers, making their situations even more precarious. It also serves to deny basic human rights."

Dušan Besán, JRS-Slovakia
"I am sure that such dramatic drop in asylum applications in Slovakia, by 78 percent, is due to tighter border controls, especially at the Ukrainian border after Slovakia entered the EU on 1 May 2004. However, these numbers do not tell much, they just indicate changes in numbers of those in transit. The majority of asylum applicants in Slovakia leave the asylum procedure soon, after 2 or 3 weeks, to continue their journey to Western Europe. Slovakia is still basically a transit channel. What is more serious for me is information from other NGOs: lots of those who were recognized as asylum seekers left the country, after couple of years. I suppose there are several reasons behind it : Slovakia does not have a long tradition in welcoming refugees, it's a new phenomenon, and society is traditionaly closed. There are also some specific economic problems. 

Norbert Frejek - JRS-Poland, comments:
"It's important to be careful with these statistics: in Poland, the situation is complicated. The number of applications doesn't always correspond to the actual number of asylum seekers. From January to September this year,  there were 1970 applications for asylum, but this involved 4302 asylum seekers. This is because children often apply on the same application as their parents, or men and women apply together. I don't think the number of asylum seekers has decreased in Poland."

GENEVA, September 6 (UNHCR)
– The number of asylum applications in industrialized countries has continued to fall during the first half of 2005, maintaining the sharp downward trend that began in 2002, according to the latest figures released on Tuesday by the UN refugee agency.

Overall, the number of asylum seekers arriving in all 36 industrialized countries listed by UNHCR fell by 18 percent, compared to the same period last year (to 156,200 from 189,900), and by 35 percent compared to the same period in 2003, when 240,800 people claimed asylum.

Last year's total was already the lowest for 16 years, UNHCR said, making the latest drop in numbers even more significant. The agency has repeatedly expressed concern that the fall in numbers may reflect the considerable difficulties some refugees are facing accessing asylum systems in Europe in the face of more and more restrictive legislation and tighter border controls.

"In Europe this often heated political debate was numbers-driven in the first place," said Pirkko Kourula, Director of UNHCR's Europe Bureau. "But the debate and the restrictions seem to be continuing unabated, even though the number of asylum seekers has fallen away quite spectacularly in the industrialized countries. We wish more attention would be devoted to the huge needs that remain in other, poorer, parts of the world."

The number of new applications in the 24 European Union countries covered by the report was 112,200 – 17 percent fewer than during the first six months of 2004. The EU total is 30 percent lower than during the same period two years ago.

"The most notable change was in the 10 new EU countries, which to some extent bucked the prevailing downward trend last year," said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. "However, during the first six months of this year, the numbers arriving in these 10 states fell by 34 percent compared to the same period last year."

France was the top receiving country, with 27,400 applications during the first six months of 2005. France's half-yearly totals have remained remarkably steady over the past two-and-a-half years (27,900 and 31,400 in the two semesters in 2003, and 30,000 and 28,600 in 2004). Nevertheless, the overall trend there has also been slightly downwards, Redmond noted.

The next largest receiving countries so far in 2005 are the United States with 25,400 asylum applications, down 8 percent on the same period last year; then the United Kingdom, down 23 percent to 15,500; Germany, down 29 percent to 13,300; Austria, down 26 percent to 9,200; Canada, down 26 percent to 8,700; and Sweden, down 30 percent to 8,000.

Perhaps the most dramatic decrease was recorded by the Slovakia which was down 78 percent compared to the first six months of last year. Close neighbours Poland and the Czech Republic also saw substantial decreases. However, several other "new" EU countries saw major increases, including Cyprus (up 26 percent to 4,000), Slovenia (up 38 percent to 850) and Malta (up 103 percent to 550). Among the "old" EU countries, Greece saw the biggest increase, up 101 percent to 5,500. No other "old" EU country increased by more than 10 percent.

In all, 14 of the 36 countries listed have seen their half-yearly total drop by 40 percent or more since the same period two years ago, and eight have seen their totals fall by more than half.

Serbia and Montenegro (which includes Kosovo), was the leading country of origin, with 10,800 asylum applicants during the first six months of this year. China and the Russian Federation – which includes Chechnya – came next (both with 9,400), followed by Turkey (7,100), Iraq (5,700) and Haiti (5,300).