PARIS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- France registered 17 percent more asylum requests in 2017 compared to a year earlier, figures released by the interior ministry on Tuesday showed.
Last year, 100,412 people asked for refuge in France with lion share of the demands coming from Albania, followed by Afghanistan, Syria, Haiti and Sudan, according to the ministry's report.
Among all the registered claims, 36 percent was part of the Dublin Procedures. The mechanism set the principle that the first EU country a migrant or refugee entered was the one responsible for processing the asylum request.
If the person moved to another one, it be returned to the country of entry.
Facing "strong migration pressure," French President Emmanuel Macron earlier on Tuesday pledged "a new policy" based on "humanism, unconditional welcome and respect of asylum right."
"To everyone we must guarantee a dignified and human welcome. To all we must give a quick answer and a real chance to integrate," he stressed.
He proposed slashing the time to treat asylum requests to six months from 18. In addition, he offered additional 20,000 shelters for refugees and to take in a further 4,000 asylum seekers in 2018.
