Malta gets biggest rise in asylum seekers

In the first half of the year, Malta saw the biggest jump in the number of asylum applications in the EU, according to figures issued on Wednesday by the UNHCR, the UN agency responsible for refugees.

Malta's increase - of 103 per cent over the same period last year - would appear to justify Malta's recent call for help to the EU in coping with the influx of asylum seekers and immigrants.

The report records the number of asylum applications received by 31 European and five non-European countries described as industrialised.

Malta's figures go against the prevailing trend in the other EU member states where, the UN statistics show, the number of asylum applications have generally declined.

The island received 579 new asylum applications between January and June, 441 between January and March and 138 between March and June. In the same six months of 2003, the number of asylum applicants was 304 and in the first half of last year the authorities received 270 applications.

The only other EU member states which reported an increase were Cyprus, up 26 per cent to 4,000 new applications; Slovenia, up 38 per cent to 859 and Greece, up 101 per cent to 5,500 applications.

According to the UNHCR, the number of new applications in EU countries totalled 112,200 - 17 per cent fewer than during the first six months of 2004. The EU total is also 30 per cent lower than in the same period of two years ago.

The most notable change was in the 10 new EU member states, with numbers falling by 34 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Based only on numbers, France was the top receiving country, with 27,400 applications in the first six months, although it also registered a decrease over last year.

The overall trend has also been downwards in the other member states such as the UK, which reported a decrease of eight per cent, Germany, down 29 per cent, Austria, down 26 per cent, and Sweden, down 30 per cent.

According to the UNHCR, the leading country of origin of asylum seekers in the 31 countries surveyed was Serbia and Montenegro, which also includes Kosovo. China and Russia, which also includes Chechnya, came next followed by Turkey, Iraq and Haiti.