Asylum figures
January 24, 2012
Almost 46,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in 2011, an increase of about 11 percent compared to 2010. It was the fourth year in a row that the number rose.
Figures released by the German Interior Ministry on Tuesday showed that the highest number of asylum seekers in 2011 came from Afghanistan, with 7,767 applications filed. This was followed by Iraq, with 5,831. By far the biggest rise in the number of applicants came from Pakistan, which more than tripled compared to 2010 for a total of 2,539. There was also a rise of almost 77 percent in the number of applications from Syrians (2,643). The number of Iranians seeking asylum rose be 35 percent to 3,352.
Fewer applicants from the Balkans
Applications were down significantly from Kosovo and the former Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Macedonia. None of the applicants from these countries was granted asylum, although a small number from Kosovo were granted subsidiary protection.
In total, 7,098 or 16 percent of the asylum seekers were granted the legal status of refugees, while a further 2,577 were received subsidiary protection, which prevents them from being deported.
Many of the refugees who reached Germany last year did so by first crossing the poorly secured border between Turkey and European Union (EU) member Greece, according to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily paper. From there, they were able to move on to Germany, where they made their applications.
Under EU law, the country where a refugee first sets foot is required to deal with the asylum application. However, Germany stopped sending asylum seekers back to Greece after an applicant appealed to the country's Constitutional Court over the practice. Greece's asylum system has been criticized by humanitarian organizations, such as the UN's refugee agency, as being dysfunctional.
Balancing act
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said Germany wished to "offer generous protection to people who really are persecuted while at the same time taking steps to combat abuse and aberrations."
The refugee organization Pro Asyl criticized the Interior Ministry over the total number of people offered protection in 2011. It said that just 22.3 percent of applicants had received protected status last year, compared to 33 percent in 2009.
Last year's numbers remained well under the figures seen in the early 1990s, which saw hundreds of thousands of people apply for asylum in Germany.
Author: Chuck Penfold (KNA, EPD, AFP, AP)
Editor: Nancy Isenson