Camp where asylum seekers are accommodated, in Humenné. (source: Sme)
In 12 cases, the asylum proceedings were halted and not a single person received Slovak citizenship, the SITA newswire wrote.
The seekers who were granted asylum in Slovakia this year include 149 Christian refugees from Iraq. The group, which arrived in the country on December 10, 2015, were granted asylum in February, foro humanitarian reasons. They come from Assyria, the region in Iraq near the city of Mosul which has been conquered by so-called Islamic State and Christians were forced to leave.
Last year, 330 people applied for asylum, and eight applications were granted, according to Interior Ministry statistics quoted by SITA. A total of 124 seekers were refused asylum. In 2015, 41 people received complementary protection – which is granted based on different reasons than asylum – while 24 were refused. The Ministry halted 148 asylum proceedings last year. Five people were granted Slovak citizenship.
Since 1993, a total of 58,342 people have applied for asylum in Slovakia: 803 application were granted, while 674 applicants were granted complementary protection; and Slovakia halted proceedings in 49,450 cases of asylum applications. In total, 238 people were granted Slovak citizenship since 1993, SITA wrote. Asylum or complementary protection are granted in EU member states for different reasons, based on the Geneva Treaty – when a person is persecuted and has rightful fears in relation to five specific reasons, Human Rights League (HRL) head Zuzana Števulová told SITA.
