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  • Prague: Number of asylum seekers falls again

    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.
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