Press Enter to search or select a section to narrow results

Asylum Seekers Make U.S. And Canada Top Choices

Asylum Seekers Make U.S. And Canada Top Choices

Jen Fad · Tuesday, March 24th 2009 at 2:25PM · 196 views
(Geneva) -- There were an estimated 383-thousand people trying to flee their own countries and move to western nations in 2008. A newly released United Nations report says the figure represents a 12-percent increase over 2007 with more people from Somalia and Afghanistan trying to get away from fighting in their homelands. For a third straight year, Iraqi citizens top the overall numbers list with more than 40-thousand men, women and children asking for asylum elsewhere. Somalis are the second largest group followed by Russian nationals, Afghans, Chinese nationals and Nigerians.

The United States is a top choice for relocation with 49-thousand asylum applications registered with the U.N. That's actually a three-percent decrease from 2007 while Canada saw a 30-percent increase, mostly due to higher numbers of people from Mexico and Haiti trying to make their way to the Great White North. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says Italy was a top choice for asylum applications filed by Somalis. Russians pick Poland as a prime destination while Afghans filed more than 18-thousand requests asking to be allowed to move to Britain, Turkey and Greece. Japan and South Korea together registered nearly two-thousand applications last year, mostly from people wanting to leave Myanmar.

http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?c...

About the Author

Jen Fad Central Jersey, NJ

Share This Article

Post a Comment

Please log in to post comments.