Asylum Seekers

Have you ever wondered what rights a person fleeing his/her country carries with him? Perhaps it's the hope to be recognised as a refugee.

I went through the EU stats and numbers released and surveyed by Eurostat. In 2019, Germany is still the EU country with most asylum applicants. Roughly 473,000 first-time asylum applications were filed in countries that belong to the European Union between January and September 2019.

Where did they come from?

Among the top countries of origin for asylum seekers according to Eurostat were Syria (54,240 first-time asylum applicants between January and September 2019), Afghanistan (35,235), Venezuela (31,120), Iraq (23,220), Colombia (20,335), Pakistan (18,110), Turkey (18,015), Iran (16,975) and Nigeria (16,295), as well as non-EU European countries Georgia and Albania (just over 15,000 each).

The largest age group were those between 18 and 34 years of age (roughly 47%). Roughly 30% were underage (17 or younger), 24% were younger than 14. Roughly 22% were between 35 and 64 years of age. Less than 1% were 65 or older.

Where did they go?

Among the six countries with the highest number of applicants were the five most populous EU countries: Germany (roughly 111,000 first-time applicants asked for asylum between January and September), France (87,100), Spain (80,000), the UK (32,000) and Italy (25,000), according to a data analysis based on Eurostat numbers.

How to get the refugee tag?

People generally think that being a refugee is yet another disadvantage faced by people abandoning their countries. But today I'll try to clear this misconception.

Just as to stay in someone's place one has to avail the permit of the host, similarly to be referred as "refugee" one has to be permitted.

In order to be called a refugee one has to land into an asylum office. From the moment a person lands into an asylum office he/she is referred to as an "Asylum seeker”, this is indeed the first step towards availing protection.

In the office the "seekers" make a plea to be protected. In order to provide their request for protection is legitimate one has to go through a lengthy process. Trained professionals conduct an interview with these "seekers" and are also asked to provide identity documents supporting their application. `

After this the credibility of the information is assessed, this in particular includes understanding the condition of the countries they have left and evaluating the consequences they will have to face if they are returned.

What in the meantime?

Processing an asylum application can take a lot of time. Whilst this period the seekers should be allowed to stay in the host country, in some cases they are rightfully provided their daily essentials like room, food, medical care.

In spite of having all basic necessities, the life of an asylum seeker is full of insecurities and vulnerabilities. They are prevented from living a normal life, doing daily chores, earn a living, follow their dreams and also quite naturally the comfort of one’s home bed. It's almost as if life's pause button has been clicked due to external factors.

Once the verification process is completed and every information is reviewed the asylum authorities take the decision whether the appeal of these "to be guests" are to be accepted. The ones who fail the screening process are escorted back to the misery they have been fleeing from. Although these people still have the right to appeal against the decision. The ones whose claims are accepted get qualified for another protective status i.e. entitled to be called "refugees".

Problems faced:

Asylum Seekers are always uncertain about their future. They have no clarity of how many days or years they need to spend in detention camps. Many suffer psychological trauma through the death or separation of family. They may not know the whereabouts of family or friends, or even if they are alive. Sometimes in the country they subsequently fled to, they are subjected to violence, at times it has been reported that the asylum seekers in detention camps aren’t provided adequate drinking water, proper medication and sometimes food.

Benefits of getting the refugee status:

Legally refugees should be granted protection by the host country. They are now entitled to the right to education and other basic rights.

Although to be called a refugee one has to go through the intermediate stage I spoke about above. But this intermediate stage can be avoided during mass movements as during that time it is impossible to interview every asylum seeker individually, to be precise I am talking about Colombia. Colombia has set an example to the world. It has hosted 1.8 million Venezuelans who fled the violence, inflation, corruption and poor standards of living in their country. These groups are often called 'prima facie' refugees.

At the end of 2019, there were approximately 4.2 million people around the world waiting for a decision on their asylum claims. Almost 48% of the seekers have ended up being deported in 2019.

Yet in spite of being given all these rights by the UNHCR, the status of Asylum Seekers remains uncertain. Probably you had expected a happy ending to this problem. But unfortunately, not every human achieves their happy ending. Although by being more sympathetic towards people and being more humane we can at least rescue the distressed out of their miseries and hence perhaps provide a happy ending to this issue.