Spain has provided International protection to 18.5 percent of those who have requested it in 2024, a percentage which has increased compared to 2023, yet it still remains among the lowest in the European Union. In the EU, recognition of asylum is at 46.6 percent.

These figures were contained in the Annual Report of the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR), on Spain and Europe. It was presented in Madrid for the uppcoming World Refugee Day on June 20.

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Spain was the 2nd country in 2024 for asylum requests after Germany

Last year, the EU received in total 995.335 requests for international protection (12 percent less compared to the previous year), with Germany confirming itself as the country registering the highest number (229,665), followed for the first time by Spain (167,366, up by 2 percent compared to 2023). This marks a new record compared to the only 2,588 requests of 2012. However, only fewer than 2 in 10 requests for asylum have been granted.

According to the Report, the asylum seekers come mainly from Colombia, Venezuela, and Mali, in the last case due to the worsening of the conflict and humanitarian situation.

"Many refugees coming from Colombia or Central America, in particular El Salvador and Honduras, see their requests for international protection rejected, and the long waiting periods leave thousands of persons in a judicial limbo", underscore sources of the Commission to the Italian Agency ANSA.

In particular, in 2024, a total of 242,056 backlog of requests for international protection had accumulated and needed to the assessed (25 percent more in just one year) despite the high number of cases processed (96,281).

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'The new asylum law shoud protect and safeguard human rights'

The higher intensity of the conflicts, political instability, and the violations of human rights last year provoked a record number of forced displacement in the world: over 122 million persons were forced to leave their homes, the majority moving within their own countries, while others were sheltered in neighboring countries, states the report.

Among the main sites of refugees there are Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan, the Sahel, and Palestine, where for 1.9 million people the response of the international community is insufficient, denounces CEAR.

For these reasons the Commission is calling for the new asylum law, which is being studied in Spain, to adapt the legal framework to the European Migration and Asylum Pact, "to strengthen and improve human right guarantees and to work as a containment to the anti-migration waves that are registered at global level."

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