Asylum Claims Rose 20 Percent Last Year, U.N. Refugee Agency Says
By RICK GLADSTONE Published: March 27, 2012 Escapees from new uprisings in the Middle East and Africa, combined with a rising tide of people fleeing chronic conflicts like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, contributed to a 20 percent increase in requests for asylum in industrialized countries last year, the United Nations refugee agency reported Tuesday. Its annual report, Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2011 , said 441,300 people requested asylum last year, compared with 368,000 in 2010. The report surveyed 44 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. The report said that the region with the largest increase in claims for the year was southern Europe, where 66,800 people sought asylum last year, most of them arriving by boat in Italy and Malta, an increase of 87 percent from the year before. “The large number of asylum claims clearly shows 2011 to have been a year of great di...