The number of Iraqis being approved for asylum in Denmark has risen sharply, due to the United Nations' encouragement, Danish daily Politiken reported Thursday.
The Danish Immigration Service was quoted as saying that Denmark had followed the UN's recommendation and approved 46 percent of the 694 applications by Iraqi asylum seekers in 2007. In addition, another 308 Iraqi translators and their families were granted asylum because they worked with the Danish military in Iraq.
About 110 of those Iraqis who were denied asylum appealed their cases and one third had their rejections overturned. Some Iraqis remain in the country illegally, while some have been sent back to the European country they lived in prior to coming to Denmark.
Compared to other European countries such as neighbor Sweden, the percentage of approved applications is still less in Denmark. In 2006, only two percent of Iraqi asylum seekers' applications were approved. However, figures for 2008 show a similar trend to 2007, the newspaper said.
Despite the increased numbers, Denmark still ranked 17th last year among the 21 European countries open to accepting Iraqi refugees in terms of approval percentage, and ranked 9th in its total number of approved cases, it added.
Secretary-General of the Danish Refugee Council Andreas Kamm said Iraq's situation was still unstable and Denmark should therefore give all Iraqis asylum, like most other European countries.
Source:Xinhua
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