A total of 34 persons who were afforded humanitarian protection in Malta are now on their way to the United States of America.

This was made possible following a decision taken in 2006 by the American government to assist Malta in this area.

A group of 15 left earlier this month and more will depart on Thursday. The programme is expected to continue in the coming months, the government said.

The realisation of this ongoing exercise was made possible through the collaborative partnership between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and the Emigrants' Commission.

The UNHCR has so far been able to refer more than 260 cases to the United States Resettlement Programme with the support of the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs.

The government noted that the governments of Holland, Ireland, Lithuania, Germany and Portugal have so far responded by resettling a number of refugees under similar arrangements following an appeal the Maltese government made to European Union member states for assistance in the area of asylum.

The Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs said it will continue to insist with all EU member states that Malta cannot be expected to shoulder this disproportionate burden alone.

According to the UNHCR report Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialised Countries, during 2003-2007 Malta ranked third in the number of asylum applications received per 1,000 inhabitants.

The report says that during that period Cyprus received 39 asylum-seekers per 1,000 inhabitants, the highest level of all 51 countries listed. Sweden ranked second (15), followed by Malta (13), Austria (13), Luxembourg (10) and Switzerland (9). The US, the main recipient of new asylum seekers during this period, was ranked 26th with an average of one asylum seeker per 1,000 inhabitants.