Refugee Commission looks over 1,200 illegal immigrants in 2006

Twenty-eight illegal immigrants were granted refugee status in 2006, while another 522 were given humanitarian protection, the Commission for Refugees' annual report shows.

A total of 637 requests for refugee status were turned down, however.

In a statement, the Refugee Commission said it had dealt with 4,477 cases since it started to operate in January 2002. Over 1,300 were Somalis.

The Refugee Office started off the year with 849 pending applications, and in the past 12 months determined the cases of 1,210 individuals from 39 countries. They include 887 individuals who arrived in Malta in 2005.

As of the end of this month, the office is still working on 211 cases and has 720 pending cases of foreigners who landed in Malta after June 20. This year a total of 23 people withdrew their application for refugee status.

The refugee office explained that the process of several individuals was prolonged because of complications - such as the lack of a passport or forged documentation. In other cases, the refugee office has to probe individuals to ascertain that they pertain to a particular country or creed.

Delays have also been caused by the shortage of interpreters for the diverse languages spoken by illegal immigrants.