Syria and Iraq conflicts drive up asylum claims to 22-year high

The number of asylum-seeker claims in industrialized countries is at a 22-year high, AFP has reported.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said that the number was up by nearly half on the previous year, with a 45 percent increase from 2013 to 2014.

The rise in asylum seekers was due to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. In 2014, 866,000 people applied for asylum in industrialized countries.

UNHCR  spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said that: “The violence in Syria and Iraq has created ‘the worst humanitarian crisis of our era’.”