Two Syrian asylum seekers brought to Malta after the Lampedusa tragedy last October. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

A quarter of all asylum seekers who were granted protection in Malta last year came from Syria, a major increase from previous years, the UN refugee office has revealed in its 2013 fact sheet.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil conflict since 2011, generating the forced displacement of millions of people, the majority of whom remain in neighbouring countries.

“An increasing number of Syrians are now embarking on the same routes as Somalis and other sub-Saharan Africans in search of safety in Europe,” the UNHCR said.

UNHCR’s fact sheet from the previous year had showed that less than one per cent of asylum seekers granted protection in Malta in 2012 were Syrians.

The total number of asylum seekers and irregular migrants who arrived in Malta on boats from Libya last year was 2,008, an increase of 118 from the previous year but some way short of the record for the most arrivals in one year (2,775 in 2008).

30%

– of 18,625 who arrived by boat from Libya since 2002 remain in Malta

In total, 71 per cent of all asylum seekers last year were granted international protection in Malta. A further 11 per cent were granted complementary forms of protection.

Thirty-eight per cent of those granted protection were Somalis while 32 per cent were Eritreans.

Somalia is struggling to emerge from decades of civil conflict and chaos, while Eritrea is ruled with an iron fist by its dictatorial President Isaias Afewerki, in office since 1991.

Human Rights Watch described Eritrea recently as “one of the most closed countries in the world”.

Twenty-five per cent of asylum seekers and irregular migrants last year were declared to be children upon arrival.

Over 1,900 individuals passed through detention centres in 2013 and some 500 were still detained at the end of the year.

Irregular migrants who apply for protection are detained until their asylum claims are determined, which usually takes months. If their claim is still pending after 12 months, they are automatically released.

Rejected asylum seekers and other irregular migrants who cannot be deported are detained for up to 18 months before being released into the community.

Exceptions are made for those deemed to be ‘vulnerable’, such as unaccompanied minors.

Some 412 refugees were resettled in the US and other countries in 2013. Since 2005, 2,242 beneficiaries of international application were resettled or relocated.

A further 73 individuals returned home in 2013 through the Assisted Voluntary Return and Sustainable Reintegration in the Country of Origin programme.

UNHCR estimates that just 30 per cent of the 18,625 individuals who arrived by boat from Libya since 2002 remain in Malta.

Beneficiaries of protection have a right to be issued with a travel document and many opt to leave the island on their own initiative for the shorter or longer term.

Some of them are returned to Malta under the Dublin regulation framework.

pcooke@timesofmalta.com