[JURIST] The UN refugee agency [official website] released a report [press release] on Thursday that identified a significant increase in asylum applications to industrialized countries as a result of the displacement effectuated primarily by the wars in Syria and Iraq. In the report, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres [official profile] drew parallels between the current demand for asylum and a similar surge in 1992 following the Balkan wars:

Today, the surge in armed conflicts around the world presents us with similar challenges, in particular the dramatic situation in Syria. Our response has to be just as generous now as it was then – providing access to asylum, resettlement opportunities and other forms of protection for the people fleeing these terrible conflicts.

A statistical report [materials] released on Thursday by the UN refugee agency notes a 45 percent increase of asylum applications submitted in industrialized countries from 2013 to 2014. Syrians seeking asylum were the largest group of submitted applications, 150,000 or one-fifth worldwide, followed by Iraqis and Afghans with 68,700 and 60,000 applications, respectively. However, according to the report [text], applications for asylum are only a small fraction of world-wide forced displacement, as 33.3 million of 51.2 million displaced individuals were displaced in their own country.

The Syrian conflict, based on establishing the legitimacy of President Bashar Al-Assad, is entering its fifth year [BBC report, JURIST report] and continues to devastate the Syrian people with continuous acts of violence. Earlier this month, it was discovered that a Syrian government executed an air strike on a northern city meant to target rival members of the Islamic State (IS), actually killed [JURIST backgrounder, JURIST report] a dozen civilians and injured many more. Just one day later, UN investigators called for [JURIST report] the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Syrian war crimes, which are characterized by systematic targeting of civilians, restriction of access to humanitarian assistance, torture, the use of highly destructive weapons and sexual violence. A Syrian rebel that had been granted asylum in Sweden in 2013 was tried for war crimes and sentenced [JURIST report] in late February to five years in prison. His indictment [JURIST report] marked the first time charges were brought in connection with the Syrian conflict to a Swedish court.