Asylum applications treble in first semester

Malta's migration problems seem to be abounding every year as new UNHCR statistics show that the number of asylum applications submitted in the first half of this year was three times that of the same period in 2007.

According to the UN refugee agency, between January and June, Malta received 1,101 asylum requests, a staggering 177 per cent increase on the 397 received in the first six months of last year.

More worrying is the fact that Malta's increase is the highest percentage increase recorded among the 27 EU member states, excluding Italy, which did not provide statistics for last year. The only country that experienced a similar substantial increase to Malta's was Poland with 3,010 applications, an increase of 119 per cent.

On the other hand, other Mediterranean countries received fewer requests for asylum.

Spain had 44 per cent fewer applications (2,361), Cyprus handled 39 per cent less (2,103) and Greece also saw the number of applications drop by 30 per cent (10,164 applications).

According to the data, the largest number of applicants in Malta in the first semester were Somali nationals (158) and citizens of the Ivory Coast (100). Other big groups arrived from Niger and Ethiopia.

UNHCR said that, in general, requests for asylum in the EU fell.

A total of 96,300 new asylum applications were recorded during the first six months of this year, three per cent down on the 99,700 requests recorded in the first half of 2007.

Apart from an 11 per cent drop in asylum applications in Southern Europe, requests for asylum also fell in Northern Europe.

This drop is largely due to a decline in the number of those applying for asylum in Sweden.

Overall, during the first half of this year France was the EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications, 15,600, followed by the United Kingdom (14,500), Sweden (12,300), Germany (10,700), Greece (10,200) and Italy (7,200).

Iraqis are by far the largest group of asylum seekers in the EU, although there was a fall in their numbers in the first six months of the year.