BUDAPEST, Hungary, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Last year saw a sharp drop in asylum seekers on the eastern borders of the European Union, according to a new report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
In 2005, 12,190 persons applied for asylum in the new EU member states in central Europe, as opposed to 21,867 in 2004 -- a decrease of 44 percent. Close to 450 persons were granted refugee status in the region last year, the agency noted.
Almost half the asylum applications were lodged in Poland, followed by the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Slovenia respectively. Over 90 percent of asylum applicants in Poland came from Russia, and were mostly ethnic Chechens.
Lloyd Dakin, the UNHCR's regional representative for Central Europe, said the U.N. refugee agency needed to have a closer look at the reasons for the substantial drop in asylum seekers.
"One explanation could be that migration flows are changing and that refugees use other routes to enter the EU; or they enter and transit the four countries without being detected. I sincerely hope this does not mean that asylum seekers are turned away at the border."
