Malta ranks second in the world for the number of refugees per square kilometre.
At the end of June 2014, the island was hosting 9,906 of them, according to a global report published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Lebanon, with 1.1 million, topped the list. It was also in first place with respect to the number of refugees per inhabitant, at 257 refugees per 1,000 Lebanese.
Next on this measure were Jordan (114 per 1,000), Chad (39), Djibouti (25), South Sudan (24) and Malta (23) in sixth place.
The economic, social and human cost is being borne mostly by poor communities
The report also compared the number of refugees to the size of the economy, where Malta placed 81st. Ethiopia and Pakistan were the top two.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres noted that the economic, social and human cost of caring for refugees and the internally displaced was being borne mostly by poor communities.
“Enhanced international solidarity is a must if we want to avoid the risk of more and more vulnerable people being left without proper support,” he said.
Last year, the number of people under the UNHCR’s mandate reached 13 million, the highest since 1996, while the total number of internally displaced people protected or assisted by the agency was at a new high of 26 million.
An estimated 5.5 million people became newly uprooted during the first six months of 2014. Of these, 1.4 million fled across international borders to become refugees, while the rest were displaced within their own countries.
Syrians for the first time became the largest refugee population under the UNHCR’s mandate, reaching three million and accounting for 23 per cent of all refugees. Syria was followed by Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and Iraq.
Syria has been engulfed in a civil conflict since 2011, generating the forced displacement of millions of people, the majority of who remain in neighbouring countries.
Syrian migrants who came to Malta after the war broke out at home (270 arrived in Malta in 2013) are granted subsidiary protection – they are allowed to stay in Malta for fear they may be harmed if repatriated. They are not, however, granted refugee status, so they are not entitled to bring their family to Malta, given this country’s family reunification rules.
NGOs have urged the government to reconsider these rules but it has said this could further increase “migration pressures” on the country.
The government has also said the issue will be further studied in the process, beginning imminently, of drafting a new immigration policy.