Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: Philippe LOPEZ / AFP 2:22 p.m., January 23, 2024

In 2023, nearly 142,500 applications for international protection were submitted to Ofpra, all procedures combined.

In 2022, Ofpra had recorded 131,000 requests, just below the previous historic peak before the health crisis in 2019.

The request for asylum continued to increase in France last year to reach the historic level of 142,500 applicants, the highest ever recorded, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) said on Tuesday in a tense political context on immigration.

With an increase of 8.6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to provisional data published by the asylum agency, France is part of a dynamic of increasing requests for protection also among its neighbors Europeans.

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142,500 requests for international protection

“In 2023, nearly 142,500 requests for international protection were submitted to Ofpra, all procedures combined. Among them, there are some 123,400 first requests for asylum,” wrote the body responsible for granting asylum in a press release. refugee status.

In 2022, Ofpra had recorded 131,000 requests, just below the previous historic peak before the health crisis in 2019 with 132,000 requests.

“This increase (of 8%) is not specific to France, it is part of a European context and remains significantly lower than the European average, which should be between 15 and 20%,” commented to AFP Julien Boucher, the head of Ofpra.

This increase is particularly marked in Germany, which recorded some 351,000 requests in 2023 (+51%), according to Ofpra.

More than 110 million people were forcibly displaced around the world by mid-2023, according to the UN, whether due to armed conflicts such as in Ukraine, natural phenomena such as droughts or floods, or even because of crises. humanitarian projects like in Afghanistan.

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For the sixth consecutive year, it is Afghan nationals who are the leading asylum seekers in France, with more than 17,500 first requests submitted, according to Ofpra data.

Followed by people from Bangladesh (8,600), Turkey (8,500), the Democratic Republic of Congo (8,000) and the Republic of Guinea (7,000).

Ofpra's protection rate, that is to say the share of requests accepted, is increasing in 2023, with 33% (+4 points compared to 2022).  

The average time for processing a file has decreased: it now takes 4.2 months for Ofpra to decide (5.2 in 2022).

An acceleration of processing made a priority by the Ministry of the Interior - which thus wants to expel people whose request has been rejected more quickly - but which has generated internal rebellion for several months.

The agents of the independent body went on strike last week for the fourth time since October 2023, at the call of the CGT and ASYL unions, to denounce in particular a “policy of figures based on unrealistic objectives”.

Their strike also targeted the controversial immigration bill, adopted forceps in mid-December notably with the votes of the National Rally.

It provides, among other things, for an overhaul of the asylum system, including for example the generalization of the use of a single judge to the detriment of collegial judgment panels at the National Court of Asylum.

The Constitutional Council, referred to by President Emmanuel Macron himself, must rule on Thursday on the conformity of the text.

In this context, the publication of these data by Ofpra takes on a particularly sensitive character, while the Ministry of the Interior chose to publish the annual immigration statistics on Thursday midday... a few hours before the very decision expected of the Sages.

A sign of the political sensitivity of the subject, Ofpra itself refused to describe the level of asylum requests as “historic” or “record”.