Fleeing the Fighting: How conflict drives the search for asylum, is a report released today (14 June 2004) to mark the start of Refugee Week (14-20 June). It reveals how conflict causes people to flee their homes, friends and family to seek sanctuary in other countries, including the UK.

The report also reveals the impact these conflicts have on asylum claims to the UK. According to available Home Office statistics, up to three-quarters (around 74%) of asylum applications are made by people from countries where conflicts are occurring, as defined by the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Conflict is just one of the global causes of forced migration and displacement, and many people around the world still face persecution in countries that are not at war, such as Zimbabwe, where human rights abuses are well documented. People also flee conflict countries for other human rights reasons.

The report, from organisations including Amnesty International, Refugee Action, Refugee Council and Save the Children, examines conflicts around the world and their impact on civilians.

Disturbing reports from seven countries currently caught up in conflict, and refugees' own personal stories of how they came to seek sanctuary in Britain, provide a stark reminder of who asylum seekers are and why they are here.

Conflict in Sudan, for example, has forced around four million people from their homes. Over half a million have fled Sudan, mainly to neighbouring countries. Tens of thousands live in squalid camps in Chad. Only a fraction of this total, around 930 Sudanese people, applied for asylum in the UK last year. Speaking on behalf of the agencies, Refugee Council Chief Executive Maeve Sherlock said:

"People are not choosing to leave - they are choosing to live. Faced with the prospect of death, or rape and torture at the hands of soldiers and armed militia, millions of people every year flee their homes.

"As tough policies and hostile attitudes make it ever more difficult to seek asylum in Britain, this report is a timely reminder of one of the main reasons people come here seeking protection - conflict. Refugees are people forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives - this is a fact that is all too often overlooked.

"The international safety-net of refugee protection is needed more than ever. Refugee Week celebrates both the UK's tradition of offering sanctuary to people fleeing conflict, persecution and other human rights abuses, and the positive contribution that refugees have made and continue to make to the UK."

The report released today focuses on war and conflict to reflect the theme of Refugee Week 2004. It examines conflicts in seven key refugee-producing countries around the world - Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Russia, Somalia and Sudan - and the impact of the conflicts on civilians and on the movement of refugees.

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