[Rudaw] The European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
Agency for Asylum (EUAA) on Wednesday announced in a blurb that European Union member states and associated countries received over a million asylum applications last year, including over 26,000 from Iraqis.
That’s a lot.
The EUAA, an agency of the EU mandated with supporting EU countries in applying EU laws governing asylum, international protection and reception conditions, announced in a blurb on Thursday EU and associated countries received a total of 1.14 million asylum applications, marking a peak in the past seven years. Syrians maintained their position as primary asylum applicants, followed by Afghans, despite there being a significant decrease in asylum applications lodged by Afghans compared to 2022. The agency also noted that there was a rise in applications from Paleostinians towards the end of the year. Of the 1.14 million asylum applications EU and associated countries received in 2023, slightly over 26,000 were lodged by Iraqis, the majority of which were in Germany. Forty-three percent of Iraq applications (11,280) were lodged in Germany, 24% percent in Greece and lower percentages in the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Finland, La Belle France, Bulgaria, Italia as well as other countries.
The number of Iraqi applications includes those lodged by citizens of the Kurdistan Region.
Around 20,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region migrated out of the country in 2023, with at least nine of them losing their lives on the dangerous and illegal smuggling routes, a refugee foundation told Rudaw in late December.
Over 760,000 people have migrated from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since 2015, with the lowest number during that period being recorded in 2023 with 19,500
The number of
Tens of thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region take on perilous routes out of the country towards Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...on a yearly basis in hopes of escaping the endless crises in the country, including the lack of employment, political instability, and corruption.
At least two people, including a 22-year-old Kurdish man from Sulaimani province’s Raparin administration, died when a boat carrying over 60