Approximately 3,000 asylum request were registered in Romania since the beginning of the year, Gabriela Leu, communication responsible with the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR), said, quoted by News.ro. In previous years, the total number of asylum requests stood at 1,500 annually.

However, the number is not high and the situation is “perfectly manageable,” she said.

“In the last month, some 482 people came by sea. This is not a very high number and it is not a number that is not being managed. It is perfectly manageable by the authorities […] Traditionally, Romania receives 1,500 asylum requests per year. This is the number reported in the past year. This year, up to this moment, the number reached approximately 3,000. This is double, but, if we look at things in perspective, the number is not that high. Four hundred people is not such a high number as to justify a crisis approach. It is a higher number than our country is used to but it is not a number that would justify a crisis approach,” Leu explained, quoted by News.ro.

She also explained that many refugees view Romania as a transit country because they have a family or friends waiting in other countries.

“Most of those who wish to leave for another country have a family or friends there. Imagine that they arrive in a foreign country without the support they usually have at home, that we have at home. They know that, in another country, someone who can stand by them awaits them. From the beginning this motivates them to reach the place where a part of their family is found. We noticed that many of those who arrive here, in need of protection, do not know many things about our country. They do not know Romania has an asylum system. We understand that what they are being told, or the image that is being given of Romania is not an image that makes them understand that they can actually live here,” she said.

A center for the refugees that have the right to stay in Romania and foreigners that study or work in the country was inaugurated on September 26 in Constanta, a city at the Romanian seaside. Refugees can receive here counseling, information, and Romanian language classes. A similar center will be inaugurated in Galati, a port city on the Danube river, on September 28.

editor@romania-insider.com