site.bta12,250 Asylum Applications Submitted, 56 People Were Granted Refugee Status, 4,895 Were Granted Humanitarian Status In 2024

The number of applications for protection submitted to the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) in 2024 was 12,250, of which 56 applicants were granted refugee status, 4,895 - humanitarian status, 3,140 - refused, and a total of 7,301 proceedings were terminated. This is stated in the report of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to the Ombudsman for 2024.

"According to the statistics of the SAR under the Council of Ministers, for the period January 1 - December 31, 2024, the applications for protection submitted by unaccompanied minors totaled 2,601, of which 234 were minors, 717 children were aged between 14-15 years, 1,650 children were aged between 16-17 years. Most applications for protection were made by nationals of countries where military conflicts are taking place and authoritarian political regimes have been established, such as Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt and Iraq," the report says.

The ombudsman's institution reports progress in the protection of the rights of unaccompanied children with the implementation of the recommendation repeatedly made by the NPM over the years - to create a safe zone for these children, which on May 16 2024 became a fact in the largest registration and reception center in Harmanli, its capacity for accommodation is 98 places, but with the possibility of increasing in case of crisis.

Despite the progress, however, problems remain - with hygiene and sanitary conditions, with the access of persons to specialized health care, with the need to provide better security, the institution reports.

According to the latest official data from the Ministry of Interior on the migration situation in Bulgaria, for the period from 08:00 on January 31, 2025 to 08:00 on February 7, 2025, a total of 53 third-country nationals were detained at the state border, of whom 34 at the entrance and 19 at the exit without registration by the Ministry of Interior authorities.

During the same period, 22 third-country nationals, mostly Moroccan, were detained for illegal stay in the interior of the country.

As of February 7, a total of 176 people were accommodated in the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, which is 16.6% of the structure's capacity. These are mainly citizens of Morocco, Afghanistan and Syria.

As of February 7, those accommodated in the centres of the State Agency for Refugees were 1,216. The occupancy rate is 37.7. Most of the people are from Syria and Afghanistan.