GENEVA - The number of Iraqis seeking asylum in industrialized countries rose dramatically last year, but the flow remains far lower than it was before the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, the UN refugee agency said Friday.
Some 22,000 Iraqis applied for asylum in Europe, North America and other industrialized areas in 2006, a 77 per cent increase from the previous year and the highest since the invasion began.
Still, that number falls far short of the 50,000 Iraqis who filed asylum claims in industrialized countries in 2002, the last year before the invasion, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.
The figures would be significantly higher, however, if all Iraqis fleeing abroad were able to reach the West to request asylum, spokesman William Spindler said.
Some 2 million Iraqis are living by Syria, Jordan and other countries in the Middle East. A further 1.9 million Iraqis have fled their homes to seek refuge elsewhere within their homeland, according to UNHCR figures.
The sharp increase in asylum applications from Iraq contrasts with the general trend around the world, where applications fell by 10 percent, according to the latest statistics.
About 303,400 refugees applied for asylum last year in the 50 industrialized countries monitored by UNHCR, compared with 338,300 in 2005. The agency said it was the fifth consecutive year the numbers fell, leading to a decrease of more than 50 percent across the period.
Redmond said the reasons for the decline were complex, but could be explained by better conditions in asylum seekers' home countries and new restrictions placed on asylum applications in industrialized countries.
The United States was the top destination for asylum seekers in 2006, receiving 17 percent of all applications. Per capita, the U.S. took in only a third as many asylum seekers as European countries, however.
France saw its asylum applications drop 4.6 per cent -- or about 19,000, taking it from top destination to second place, followed by Britain, Sweden, Canada and Germany.
The number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan also increased for the first time since 2001, although it was only sixth overall, accounting for 3.1 per cent of all applications.
Other countries representing major sources of asylum applicants last year were China (6.6 per cent of the total), Russia (5.7 per cent), the since split-up Serbia and Montenegro (5.7 per cent) and Turkey (3.2 per cent).
