About 12,000 refugees, over 60% of whom Syrians, got economic aid in Seville for integation over a three-year period. About 12,000, in Seville, in Spain's Andalusia region, from January 2015 until December 2017. The overall number might be higher, since some of the asylum seekers did not make use of the aid, according to data from Spain's labor and social security ministry.
There were 11,971, refugees and asylum seekers who received aid from the national system in the city of Guadalquivir. Most - 7,277 (60.8%) - were of Syrian origins, followed by Venezuelans (759), Palestinians (714) and Ukrainians (662). Refugees from Morocco (252), Guinea (208) and Colombia (714) also received integration aid.
''We should be pleased with the fact that Spain is a country of reception and that refugees can thus find here a place to stop after having fled from their countries of origin for various reasons,'' said Lourdes Navarro, head of the legal services of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR), quoted by the ABC daily.
Refugee convention originally to protect Europeans in exile
In 1951, the UN approved the Convention on the Status of Refugees to protect Europeans in exile after WWII.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), at least 220,000 people sought temporary refuge abroad. Navarro noted that the Spanish reception system offers refugees lodgings, maintenance funds as well as legal, psychological and social assistance.
Up to 18 months, 24 in case of particular vulnerability
With the request for international protection, refugees can receive the application of the statue enabling them to get citizenship after five years with a stay permit or residence in Spain. Asylum seekers and refugees can receive state aid for 18 months, up to 24 in the case of particular vulnerability. They can live for up to six months in a government reception centers or in those managed by NGOs. In Seville there is a 120-bed state-run Center for Refugee Reception (CAR) and 500 others places in facilities run by specialized NGOs funded by the labor and social security ministry, including the Catholic Spanish Migration Commission Association (ACCEM), the CEPAIM Foundation and the Red Cross.