European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 ECRE COUNTRY REPORT 2005 This report is based on the country reports submitted by member agencies to the ECRE Secretariat between June and August 2005. The reports have been edited to facilitate comparisons between countries, but no substantial changes have been made to their content as reported by the agencies involved. The reports are preceded by a synthesis that is intended to provide a summary of the major points raised by the member agencies, and to indicate some of the common themes that emerge from them. It also includes statistical tables illustrating trends across Europe. ECRE would like to thank all the member agencies involved for their assistance in producing this report. The ECRE country report 2005 was compiled by Jess Bowring and edited by Carolyn Baker. 1 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS Austria..........................................................................................................................38 Belgium........................................................................................................................53 Bulgaria........................................................................................................................64 Czech Republic ............................................................................................................74 Denmark.......................................................................................................................84 Finland .........................................................................................................................94 France.........................................................................................................................104 Germany.....................................................................................................................117 Greece ........................................................................................................................125 Hungary......................................................................................................................139 Ireland ........................................................................................................................150 Italy ............................................................................................................................169 Lithuania ....................................................................................................................178 Luxembourg...............................................................................................................187 Malta ..........................................................................................................................195 Netherlands ................................................................................................................199 Norway.......................................................................................................................209 Poland ........................................................................................................................217 Portugal......................................................................................................................227 Romania .....................................................................................................................237 The Russian Federation.............................................................................................241 Serbia & Montenegro.................................................................................................253 Slovak Republic.........................................................................................................265 Slovenia......................................................................................................................281 Spain ..........................................................................................................................290 Sweden.......................................................................................................................301 Switzerland ................................................................................................................310 United Kingdom.........................................................................................................320 2 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 1 Statistics Chart 1: Total Asylum applicants in European countries in 2004 Serbia and Montenegro 55 Portugal 102 Lithuania 118 Romania 485 Luxembourg 803 Bulgaria 822 Malta 1,199 Hungary 1,609 Slovenia 1,674 Denmark 2,281 Slovak Republic 3,549 Finland 3,574 Greece 3,817 Czech Republic 4,021 Ireland 4,323 Spain 5,257 Norway 5,401 Poland 6,863 Switzerland 10,061 Netherlands 12,347 Italy 14,950 Belguim 15,957 Sweden 17,530 Austria 22,461 UK 25,720 Germany 28,914 France 42,578 2005 Chart 2: European countries with increasing numbers of asylum applications 18,000 15,957 16,000 15,387 14,590 14,000 12,347 12,000 9,782 10,000 8,783 8,000 6,000 4,000 1,600 1,609 1,674 1,199 2,000 1,173 997 910 960 84 102 50 55 0 Belgium The Italy Hungary Slovenia Malta Russian Portugal Serbia & Netherlands Federation Montenegro 2004 2005 3 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 Chart 3: European countries with decreasing numbers of asylum applications 42,578 France 50,547 28,914 Germany 35,607 25,720 UK 33,930 22,461 Austria 24,634 17,530 Sweden 23,180 6,863 Poland 8,080 5,401 Norway 7,945 5,257 Spain 5,555 4,323 Ireland 2005 4,766 4,021 2004 Czech Republic 5,459 3,817 Greece 4,469 3,574 Finland 3,861 3,549 Slovak Republic 11,350 2,281 Denmark 3,235 822 Bulgaria 1,127 803 Luxembourg 1,575 485 Romania 544 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 Chart 4: Total asylum applications in EU Member States in 2005 42,578 France 50,547 28,914 Germany 35,607 25,720 UK 33,930 22,461 Austria 24,634 Sweden 17,530 23,180 15,957 Belguim 15,387 Italy 14,950 8,783 12,347 The Netherlands 9,782 Poland 6,863 8,080 5,401 Norway 7,945 Spain 5,257 5,555 4,323 Ireland 4,766 4,021 2005 Czech Republic 5,459 3,817 2004 Greece 4,469 3,574 Finland 3,861 3,549 Slovak Republic 11,350 2,281 Denmark 3,235 1,674 Slovenia 1,173 1,609 Hungary 1,600 1,199 Malta 910 822 Bulgaria 1,127 803 Luxembourg 1,575 485 Romania 544 102 Portugal 84 55 Serbia and Montenegro 50 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 4 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 Chart 5: Asylum applications submitted by persons from Serbia & Montenegro 5,522 Germany 3,855 4,403 Austria 2,835 2,944 Sweden 4,022 2,569 France 2,378 1,50 6 Switzerland 1,771 1,2 0 3 Belg ium 778 562 Slovenia 394 468 Norway 859 457 Finland 837 418 It a ly 13 8 2005 383 2004 Denmark 784 336 The Netherlands 395 243 Hungary 18 0 Luxe mb o ur g 219 361 19 0 UK 405 44 Spain 21 31 Ireland 46 30 Czech Republic 11 29 Slovak Republic 55 7 Bulg aria0 0 100020003000400050006000 Total 2004 2005 Variation 28 Synthesis countries* 20,139 21,564 +7.1 25 EU Member States* 19,273 21,089 +9.4 *Countries with more than five applications Chart 6: Asylum applications submitted by persons from the Russian Federation 6,246 Poland 7180 4,355 Austria 6172 1,980 France 2165 1,719 Germany 2757 1,438 Belgium 1361 1,057 Sweden 1287 1,037 Slovak 2413 545 Norway 937 375 Switzerland 505 343 Greece 138 285 The 206 260 Czech Republic 1498 2005 233 Finland 215 2004.00 195 UK 305 138 Spain 84 119 Denmark 163 86 Lithuania 102 54 Luxembourg 52 46 Ireland 62 37 Hungary 41 17 Bulgaria 10 11 Slovenia 12 6 Romania 8 4 Portugal 6 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 Total 2004 2005 Variation 28 Synthesis countries* 27,713 20,586 -25.7 25 EU Member States* 26,758 20,018 -25.19 *Countries with more than five applications 5 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 Chart 7: Asylum applications submitted by persons from Iraq 2,330 Sweden 1,4 56 1, 9 8 3 1, 2 9 3 1, 6 3 0 The Netherlands 1,0 4 3 1,4 3 5 1, 6 9 5 903 Belg ium 388 835 936 672 Norway 412 468 631 289 Finland 12 3 264 217 221 It a ly 469 221 2005 231 110 2004 France 16 3 71 63 55 Ireland 38 50 47 47 Czech Republic 38 41 57 28 Slovak Republic 110 18 36 14 Slovenia 28 12 6 8 Luxembourg 9 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Total 2004 2005 Variation 28 Synthesis countries* 9,489 11,708 +23.4 25 EU Member States* 8,967 10,915 + 21.7 *Countries with more than five applications Chart 8: Asylum applications submitted by unaccompanied minors 2,720 UK 2,755 790 Austria 1212 735 France 1,221 Ireland 643 617 594 The Netherlands 594 584 Belgium 599 523 Germany 636 Sweden 398 388 221 Italy 469 218 2005 Finland 139 2004 Greece 158 302 109 Denmark 128 104 Slovenia 105 Slovak Republic 100 196 100 Czech Republic 91 42 Hungary 43 22 Luxembourg 109 9 Lithuania 11 5 Romania 7 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 6 European Council on Refugees and Exiles - Country Report 2005 4 Table 1: recognition rates (%) Subsidiary Protection in European countries Country 2004 2005 Austria 2.9 7.5 Bulgaria 15 6.1 Czech Republic 0.4 1.5 Denmark 4.4 9.1 Finland 4.3 4.1 France 7 8.5 Germany 1.6 1.4 Greece 0.6 1.05 Hungary 16* 7.5 Italy N/A 29.5 Lithuania 83.3 84.6 Luxembourg 12 14 Norway 10.3* 7.7* Portugal 8.3 8.8 Slovenia 4.9 1.07 Spain 2.6 1.9 Sweden 2.3* 3.2* The Netherlands N/A 3.2 *Appeal number not available Table 2: Recognition rates (%) Convention Status in European Countries Country 2004 2005