There were nearly 300 applications from Libyans seeking asylum in Malta in only the first two months of this year, nearly as many as the whole of 2014.
The figures emerge from a human rights report released yesterday by The People for Change Foundation, which identified new trends in asylum applications.
Libyans topped the list of asylum seekers last year – 418 – accounting for almost a third of the 1,350 applications filed with the Refugee Commissioner.
The second largest group of applicants last year was Syrians (310), followed by Somalis (121).
Syrians represented the largest group having successful applications, with 364 being granted protection. Not all of the applications decided in 2014 were necessarily filed last year since some may have been carried over from previous years.
Somalis formed the second largest nationality group with 292 individuals receiving protection status last year, followed by Libyans (208) and Eritreans (139). The Refugee Appeals Board received 502 appeal applications.
According to the report the number of Libyan asylum seekers grew towards the end of 2014 and this included people who had already been living in Malta and new arrivals.
This confirms the widespread feeling that the number of Libyans living in Malta had increased significantly last year, especially in the Sliema area.
‘A new trend in migration’
But the report noted a new trend in migration patterns with most of the asylum applicants last year arriving in Malta through regular channels.
There were 824 protection applications filed by individuals who did not come to Malta by boat, with Libyans and Syrians representing the two largest populations in this category.
The number of undocumented migrants arriving in boats during 2014 was 568, which was the second lowest number of arrivals in the last decade. They arrived in five boats and this was significantly lower than the number of arrivals in 2013, which totalled 2,008.
This coincided with the Italian search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum in the central Mediterranean that rescued around 150,000 people, most of who disembarked in Italy. The operation ended in November.