NUMBER OF ASYLUM SEEKERS FALLS AGAIN, IN AUGUST THREE HUNDRED

Czech News Agency
September 16, 2004

PRAGUE, Sept 16 (CTK) – Number of persons who seek asylum in the Czech
Republic has fallen to 301 in August, which is this year’s monthly
minimum, according to the latest data of the Interior Ministry’s
asylum and migration department.

Only 261 adults and 40 children applied for asylum in August, compared
to 354 persons in July. As for this year, the highest number of asylum
applications (988) was presented in March.

This tendency has been confirmed by the office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to the UNHCR report,
the number of applicants so far this year has been the lowest in the
last 17 years.

This is connected with the return of refugees to Afghanistan, Iraq
and Kosovo and stricter laws in European Union member states, the
report says.

The Czech Republic’s accession to the EU in May has been the main
factor behind the lower number of asylum applications, Jana Pintova
from the ministry’s asylum and migration department said.

Most of the asylum applications were filed in August by refugees from
Ukraine (106), China (57) and Russia (27).

>>From January to August, 4,123 applications were filed, most of them
(1,350 or 34 percent of the total number) by Russians, followed by
1,133 Ukrainians, 266 Vietnamese and 215 Chinese.

The number of applicants was the highest in 1990, when 18,094
foreigners sought asylum in the Czech Republic. Last year the number
was 11,400, this being the second highest. On the other hand, the
least applications (841) were presented in 1992.

This year, the applications were handed most frequently in the
refugee centre Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, which has registered 193
applications, including 101 by Ukrainian citizens.

The Czech authorities granted asylum to 2,520 applications from July
1900 to August 2004. Most of the affirmative answers were given to
citizens of Romania (474), Afghanistan (296) and Russia (200).

>>From January to August, 95 refugees were granted asylum, including
29 Russians and 21 Belarussians. In 2003, 208 refugees were granted
asylum. The highest number of applications was approved in 1991,
when 776 people were granted asylum.

>>From July 1990 to August 2004, the Czech Republic granted Czech
citizenship to 533 refugees. Most often, citizenship was granted to
refugees from Armenia (87), Vietnam (85), Romania (79), and Ukraine
(29).

On the other hand, asylum was withdrawn from some 200 foreigners,
160 of them from Romania and 20 from Bulgaria.