A true common asylum policy across the EU must include the recognition that migrants may need to be relocated to other member states, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said.

Malta, he said, had one of the highest per capita numbers of refugees and, at times, the country needed other member states to accept some of these migrants for relocation.

He said that the Government was committed to continue holding meetings with countries so as to ensure that they honoured their international obligations.

The EU recently adopted a common asylum policy that is set to come into force in the second half of 2015. It lays down common procedures and deadlines for the handling of applications.

This is a very important day as the international community remembers that each one of you took a very important life decision

For example, member states will have a standard, six-month deadline to determine asylum applications and will only be able to postpone decisions for a further nine months, in three limited and well-defined cases.

But the policy retains the principle enshrined in the Dublin II regulations that puts the onus of responsibility on the country through which the asylum seeker first enters the EU.

According to a recent UNHCR report, Malta ranked eighth in the world last year in terms of the number of refugees hosted in proportion to the size of the population – with 20 refugees for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Dr Mallia yesterday visited refugee families who live at the Ħal Far open centre to mark World Refugee Day.

“This is a very important day as the international community remembers that each one of you took a very important life decision – to leave your countries and your families,” he told a group of men, women and children at the open centre.

He called on them to try to integrate while retaining their culture and respecting the cultures and traditions of their host country.

Atif Laiq Ahmed, from the voluntary organisation Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Malta, distributed baskets of fruit to the families living at the open centre.

He thanked the minister for showing solidarity with refugees and looked forward to working with the Government to be of further help.

As the fruit baskets were handed out to the refugee families, several of them turned to members of the media present and offered them fruit from their basket.