Malta hosted 19 refugees for every 1,000 inhabitants last year, putting it among the main host countries in the world, a new United Nations report has found.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report on displacement found that Sweden was the only European country to have a higher ratio, at 24 refugees for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Last year, there were approximately 8,000 refugees on the island, the report found, nearly half of whom had received assistance from UNHCR.

Malta had another 1,378 pending asylum applications and 11 people who claimed to be stateless – or not considered to be a national by any State under the operation of its law. 

Direct action in third countries had proven somewhat successful

UNHCR said that there were nearly 10,000 people living in Malta who were considered the “population of concern” when it came to displacement and status.

The flow of migration, especially in the central Mediterranean, has been in the national and international spotlight in recent weeks, ever since the Maltese and Italian governments locked horns over a boat carrying more than 600 migrants earlier this month. The two countries declined to allow the vessel carrying the rescued migrants to dock, with the boat eventually being diverted to Spain. 

The issue is now set to be discussed by European leaders at a summit in Brussels at the end of the month.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has called for a paradigm shift, insisting that all avenues that had been explored so far had failed, and “more of the same” was not an option.

Although he did not expand upon what sort of solution he was hoping for, Dr Muscat said direct action in third countries had proven somewhat successful.

He has also hinted at potential lobbying for a review of the definitions of ‘asylum seekers’ and ‘economic migrants’ and the way they were processed.

NSO statement

In a statement on Wednesday, the National Statistics Office said that 1,839 applications for international protection were received by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner in 2017, a decrease of 4.6% over the previous year.

No boat landings were recorded in Malta last year with 20 Africans being airlifted out at sea and brought to Maltese shores.

When analysing asylum applications in the context of the European Union - applicants per million population - Malta ranked fourth after Greece, Cyprus and Luxembourg. Almost two-thirds of the applicants were citizens of African
countries, of which 37.3% were Libyans. Another 26.8% were Syrians. A total (43.1%) were males aged between 18 and 34.

In 2017, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner processed 1,109 applications, 68.7% were granted a positive decision at first instance, while the remaining applications were rejected. When analysing positive first instance decisions in the European Union - decisions per million population - Malta ranked fifth after Austria, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg.

Nearly two-thirds (62.7%) of the applicants who were granted a form of protection status in 2017 were Africans, while a further 36.2% were Asians.

Of all the applicants granted a form of protection status in 2017, 39.9% were Libyans  while 31.2% were Syrian.

An increase of 34.2% was registered in the resident population of open centres and other institutional households when compared to 2016. More than half open centre residents were in Ħal Far.

Another 259 lived in other institutional households, excluding open centres. The majority of the residents were males while almost a third (30.9%) were Somali.

In 2017, 173 third-country nationals were resettled in another country – 62.5% less than in 2016. Another 19 benefitted from assisted voluntary return programmes.

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