Only during the month of May this year, more than seventy thousand asylum applications have been filed by illegal migrants who have succeeded in entering various countries in Europe. According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (UAA), most of these people have entered Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and other countries in EU. After 2016, this was the largest number of asylum applications filed by the illegal migrants. Amongst these applicants, people from Afghanistan tops the list with 8,735 asylum applications which is followed by nationals from Syria, Venezuela, Pakistan, Colombia, Turkey and Georgia.
There also are 2,168 asylum seekers from Bangladesh.
According to information, around twenty thousand Bangladeshi nationals have sought asylum only in 2021 while almost 96 percent of asylum applications filed by Bangladeshi nationals in 2014 were rejected on various grounds. The percentage of accepted asylum applications in May 2022 was 45 percent, whereas the number of accepted applications filed by nationals from Ukraine and Syria are 97 and 96 percent respectively. Acceptance rate of asylum seekers from Afghanistan was 53 percent.
Meanwhile, Cyprus is facing serious challenged following massive influx of illegal migrants, most of whom arrive in the country through land and sea routes. During the end of 2021, more than 17 thousand asylum applications were filed in Cyprus, which had resulted in fund crisis in processing these applications and providing food and temporary shelter to the illegal migrants.
According to UAA, thousands of illegal migrants are also landing in Cannery Islands, where the number until July 2022 stood at 9,670. This number is 30 percent more than the previous year.
European Union has allocated more than US$170 million to countries such as Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Italy and Poland for providing food and temporary shelter to illegal migrants. Moreover, these EU countries will require additional 9.90 billion dollars for integrating the illegal migrants.
Illegal migrants pose security threat to European countries
While European nations are making all out efforts in integrating thousands of illegal migrants into the societies, according to counterterrorism experts, a large number of terrorists and militants, including militancy outfits such as Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hezbollah, Houthis, Haqqani Network and Hamas are also succeeding in landing into European nations and getting asylum.
Meanwhile, according to Independent Investigators, a private investigation agency which has been providing services to a number of diplomatic missions in checking detailed backgrounds of visa-seekers as well as applicants of family and immigration visas told this correspondent that, more than 60 percent of these applicants use forged documents while many of them suppress criminal backgrounds, which may ultimately turn into huge headache to the host nations.
The organization said, while the European Union is providing fund for integration of illegal migrants and asylum-seekers, it is also essential to put special emphasis on detailed and comprehensive investigation into the backgrounds of each of these people.
