Last year 48 boats carried 1,822 irregular immigrants to Malta, an increase of 434 over the previous year, the National Statistics Office said on the occasion of World Refugee Day being marked today.

Up to June 14 this year, the number of boats reaching Malta was nine, bringing in 378 immigrants.

The NSO said the increase in arrivals was reflected in an increase in the number of applications for asylum.

The Office of the Refugee Commissioner received 997 such applications in 2004, which went up to 1,199 last year. This year up to the end of May there have been 557, which suggests that the growing trend will be sustained in 2006, the NSO said.

An increase was also recorded in the number of migrants who were repatriated - from 709 in 2004 to 954 in 2005. Up to April 2006 the number of repatriations stood at 349.

Figures for repatriations refer to all foreigners removed from the country, including those who entered legally but remained beyond their authorised stay, those who arrived in Malta without the proper documentation, and others who arrived in an irregular manner.

The total number of asylum decisions taken by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner during 2005 was 1,102. Of these, 49.6 per cent were positive decisions, that is, refugee status or humanitarian protection was granted to 36 and 510 individuals respectively.

The remaining 50.5 per cent of all decisions were rejections.

In contrast to the figures recorded for 2003 and 2004, the distribution of decisions taken in 2005 indicates that the percentage of rejections exceeded the percentage of grants of humanitarian protection, the NSO explained.

Between 2002 and 2005 a total of 160 persons were granted refugee status, 1,509 persons were granted humanitarian protection and 1,288 applications were rejected

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