GENEVA, October 17 (UNHCR): A UN refugee agency report released on Friday shows that the number of Iraqis seeking asylum in industrialized countries dropped in the first six months of this year, but they were still by far the top nationality seeking asylum in these destinations.
According to the asylum trends report, the number of claims made by Iraqis (19.500) during the first six months of 2008, was higher than the combined number of asylum claims submitted by citizens of the Russian Federation (9.400) and China (8.700), the second and third most important source countries.
Other important countries of origin of asylum seekers were Somalia (7.400), Pakistan and Afghanistan (6.300 each).
Compared to the previous six months, however, the number of Iraqi asylum seekers fell by 18 per cent and by 10 per cent compared to the first half of 2007. In spite of this downward trend, Iraqis still accounted for 12 per cent of all asylum applications lodged in the industrialized world.
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