The number of asylum seekers in Slovakia keeps declining: from the start of 2013 until May 31, a total of 184 foreigners sought asylum, most of them from Somalia, Eritrea, Georgia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam. The data were released by the Interior Ministry, which administers asylum claims.
“To compare, in 2004 there were about 11,500 starts of asylum proceedings, while in 2012 there were 732 cases,” the TASR newswire reported, quoting the ministry statistics. Most asylum seekers came from Afghanistan.
"Asylum was granted in two cases, while in 14 cases additional protection was granted,” Zuzana Miškolci of the Interior Ministry told the SITA newswire.
Several events were organised to mark World Refugee Day on June 20. In the Opatovská Nová Ves residential camp and the Humenné detention camp there were events for refugees, as well as an umbrella march in Košice and a cultural performance in Bratislava, TASR wrote.