Colombia registers a record in asylum applications: it is the second in the world

With 202,957 applications in 2023Colombia is the second country with the most asylum requests within the member countries of the OECD, only being surpassed by Venezuela, with 272,515according to data from the International Migration Perspectives report of this international organization

In fact, the figure registered in 2022 (87,817 applications), represents 42.2% of the requests made in the following year.

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Likewise, it far surpasses critical countries such as Syria (171,297 applications); Afghanistan (149,637) and Haiti (128,947).

As outlined in the report, “The United Nations considers Colombia one of the main countries of origin of the refugee population abroad, with 189,454 Colombian people in a refugee situation at the end of 2019, in addition to more than 75,500 unresolved asylum application cases.“.

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As for destinations, the so-called ‘Colombian diaspora’ has USA and Spain as the main countries to go to. In 2023, around 128,000 compatriots left for those countries.

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Among the main reasons why more and more Colombians seek to leave their homeland has to do with economic, professional and labor growth, the distancing of insecurity in the national territory and, even, ignorance of the existence of the asylum measureaccording to the Spanish newspaper ‘El País’.

PORTFOLIO