MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Asylum requests on the rise in Uruguay

Uruguay has 16,000 cases to analyze, Mondelli explained

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of asylum requests in Uruguay has increased to 16,000 from 13,113 in mid-2022, it was reported in Montevideo.

The Refugee Agency spoke of an increase in asylum applications and reinforced its work in the country to obtain solutions for refugees and migrants in support of the State and civil organizations, according to local media.

In an interview with Channel 4's Telenoche show, Juan Ignacio Mondelli, head of UNHCR's National Office in Uruguay, said that “there are a series of humanitarian situations in the region that have substantially increased the number of people in mobility and who have submitted asylum requests.”

He also pointed out that Uruguay, traditionally “a country with a small number of applications, today has approximately 16,000 cases to be analyzed.”

Most applications are from Cuban citizens, Mondelli explained.

“There may be situations in which people have not reached a level that qualifies them as refugees, but this does not mean that the person cannot regularize their situation for other reasons,” he added.

The evaluation of each application is carried out by the Refugee Commission.

The UNHCR also said that Uruguay registered a 35% increase in Venezuelan asylum applicants between December 2021 and the same month of 2022, exceeding 27,000 people.