§ Mr. MillerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Karens have been granted political asylum since 1990.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerInformation on applications for asylum by Karens is not separately identified in the statistics. The available information relates to asylum applications by Burmese nationals and data on these, for the years 1992 to 1994, are given in the table. Figures for 1990 and 1991 are published in tables 4.1 and 4.2 respectively of the Home Office statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 1992", issue 19/93, a copy of which is available in the Library.
Decisions on applications for asylum1 received from nationals of Burma in the United Kingdom, excluding dependents, 1992 to 1994. number of principal applicants 1992 1993 1994 Asylum applications2 20 15 20 Decisions2,3 45 20 5 Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum ⋆ 5 0 Not recognised as a refugee but granted exceptional leave to remain4 40 10 5 Refused5 ⋆ 5 ⋆ 1 Provisional figures rounded to the nearest 5, with "⋆" = 1 or 2.2
2 Figures exclude information on applications made overseas.
3 Decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same year.
4 Usually granted for a year in the first instance, subject then to further review.
679W5 Refusals include those made after full consideration, refusals under para 180F for failure to provide evidence to support the asylum claim within a reasonable period, and refusals on the grounds that the applicant had arrived from a safe third country.