New York, Jan 23: Warning that the European Union's imminent enlargement could overwhelm the asylum-handling systems of some new member states, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has unveiled proposals on how to address the looming problem.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, told a meeting of EU Interior Ministers in Dublin that the region's pattern of asylum applications could change dramatically after the enlargement on may one.
He said that improved identification and registration procedures for asylum-seekers mean it is now easier to send them back to the first EU country they entered - which in practice will usually mean the new member states.
"There are new EU states in central Europe which currently only have 15 or 20 asylum assessors. A decade ago they had no asylum systems at all," he said. "What is going to happen if thousands of extra asylum seekers are sent back to them from the inner EU countries?"
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are about to join the EU.
Bureau Report