Refugee status was awarded to 61 persons, involving 47 cases, between January 2002 and September this year, the commissioner for refugees said.

In a statement issued by the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, Charles Buttigieg said humanitarian status was granted in another 237 cases involving 371 persons.

Humanitarian protection is given to some persons whose application for refugee status is refused, allowing them to stay in the country until they can be safely repatriated or move to another country.

A total of 494 applications for refugee status were refused.

Ten applications, involving 11 persons, were withdrawn, and 52 applications involving 74 persons were still being examined.

A total of 689 applications involving 911 persons were examined. And 118 cases involving 127 persons were still to be examined.

Most of the 52 cases still being examined at the end of September were cases where the applicants themselves had requested more time to submit documents and make submissions.

Mr Buttigieg said that by the end of September he had interviewed all applicants who moved their case last year, except for four cases where the applicants could not yet be investigated for medical reasons or because of their personal situation.

Last summer there were 43 cases involving 94 persons from Iraq, who, in view of the circumstances in their country, were given temporary protection according to a UNHCR recommendation to all governments.

On October 1, the oldest case still to be investigated was around three months old.

Mr Buttigieg said the commission was doing its utmost to process applications as soon as possible while ensuring that work was done professionally. The Maltese office was one of the most efficient, he said.

Eritrean and Ethiopian illegal immigrants at Safi Barracks, some of whom had been detained for 19 months, a few days ago ended a 10-day hunger strike in a bid to persuade the authorities to grant them freedom or improve their conditions of detention.