As reported by Washington ProFile, the report provides statistics on people seeking asylum under the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, which declares that victims of political, religious, and ethnic repression have the right to safe residence in another country.
According to the report, in 2007 the number of people seeking refugee status in industrialized countries increased by 10% compared to 2006. Prior to that, for five years the number of such applications had been declining. In total, 338,000 people filed such applications (306,300 in 2006). One of the main reasons for the increase is a twofold rise in such applications from Iraqi citizens (45,200 in 2007 vs. 23,000 in 2006).
In 2007, the number of Russian citizens seeking asylum abroad increased by 19% compared to 2006. Along with Iraq and Russia, the countries whose citizens most often sought asylum abroad also included China (17,100), Serbia (15,400), and Pakistan (14,300). Last year, 3,900 Armenian citizens (6% less than in 2006), 4,000 Georgian citizens (11% more), 1,760 Moldovan citizens (down 31%), nearly 1,500 Azerbaijani citizens (down 41%), 1,500 Ukrainian citizens (down 31%), and 1,300 Belarusian citizens (down 30%) also sought asylum abroad.
Refugees most often headed to the USA (49,200 people filed such applications, or 14.5% of the total), Sweden (10.7%), France (8.6%), Canada (8.4%), and the UK (8.2%). It should be noted that such requests decreased in 25 out of the 51 countries covered in the report: the most significant decline was observed in Austria, Germany, France, and the USA. At the same time, there was a sharp increase in the flow of people seeking asylum in Greece, Turkey, Poland, and Sweden. Russian citizens most often tried to obtain asylum in Austria, France, Poland, and Germany.