Malta last year received the highest number of asylum applications ever since data started being collected, according to a report issued yesterday by the Brussels office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Taken on a per capita basis, Malta is now ranked third among the 27 EU member states in terms of the number of applications for asylum received.
According to the report, Asylum Levels And Trends In The European Union - 2007, last year Malta received 1,380 applications from illegal immigrants claiming to be refugees and asking for asylum. This translates into an increase of nine per cent over the previous year.
Taken on a per capita basis, the record number of asylum seekers applying for refugee status in Malta amounts to 3.4 applications for every 1,000 inhabitants. Only Cyprus (7.9 per 1,000) and Sweden (four per 1,000) had more applications than Malta.
Although not all applications are eventually accepted, a spokesman for the UNHCR told The Times that Malta has one of the highest rates of acceptance in the EU.
The phenomenon of illegal immigrants reaching Maltese shores has increased significantly over the past years. Not all illegal immigrants apply for asylum status and there is a clear distinction between an illegal immigrant and an asylum seeker.
While an illegal immigrant has no right to remain in the county and can eventually be expelled, an asylum seeker is given the right of residence if it is proved s/he is a refugee on a humanitarian basis.
The UNHCR report states that the highest amount of asylum applications received by Malta last year was in October and November with 210 and 233 applications filed with the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees.
The record number of applications received by Malta last year was also experienced by the EU, although on a general level. According to the report, in 2007, the 27 member states recorded 222,910 new asylum applications, amounting to 11 per cent more than in 2006. This was the first increase in five years and follows a 20-year low observed in 2006. The UN report said that the rise in 2007 can, by and large, be attributed to the sharp increase in Iraqi asylum-seekers.
On a regional level, the 27 EU member states received an average of 2.6 asylum-seekers per 1,000 inhabitants over the five-year period between 2003 and 2007. However, in Malta's case the ratio is much higher and amounts to 13.3 asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants in the same period.
Apart from Malta, the main increases last year were registered in Scandinavian countries (Denmark with 16 per cent and Sweden with 49 per cent) and in the Mediterranean countries (Italy with 36 per cent; Spain with 41 per cent and Greece with 105 per cent).
Numbers of asylum applications submitted in Malta
2003 - 570
2004 - 1,000
2005 - 1,170
2006 - 1,270
2007 - 1,380
Source: UNHCR