Refugee Commissioner processes 1,267 cases

Refugee Commissioner Charles Buttigieg said that since his office started processing cases in January 1, 2002, 1,267 cases involving 1,544 people had been processed.

Since then, 78 were given refugee status, 749 people - Somalis in their majority - had been granted humanitarian protection, 500 applications had been refused and 40 applications had been withdrawn.

Mr Buttigieg said that from January 1, 2004 until yesterday, 457 cases involving 501 persons had been dealt with.

"Three individuals have been granted refugee status this year, 310 have been granted humanitarian protection and 82 applications were rejected. The number of applications that were withdrawn totalled 17," he said.

The Refugee Commissioner's office is processing 122 applications and another 151 cases still have to be looked into.

Mr Buttigieg said one could recognise a person genuinely seeking asylum as a refugee when that person was unable or unwilling to return to his country because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

He said a great deal of responsibility was placed on the Refugee Commissioner since he had to determine whether an individual's plea for refugee status or humanitarian protection was well founded.

He explained that apart from granting refugee status, humanitarian protection was given to individuals who could not prove they would be persecuted if they were sent back to their country but could still prove they were from a country where there was war, for example.

In Malta, most Somalis had been granted protection because their country, on the brink of yet another civil war, still had no government.

Refugees were entitled to a residence permit, social assistance, the right to work, free medical care and free education. They were also entitled to a travel document, known as convention travel document (CTD), Mr Buttigieg said.

With regard to people with humanitarian protection, these did not automatically have the right to work but still had the right to seek to obtain a working permit in Malta.

Explaining procedures employed to interview those who applied for refugee status, the Refugee Commissioner said applicants were sent a preliminary questionnaire aimed at gathering information before the interview.

Secondly, the individuals would be given advice on their rights and duties, namely, that their case would be treated in a confidential manner, that they had the right to be assisted by a lawyer, that they could contact the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, that they had the chance to present their case fully and that they had an obligation to cooperate and be truthful.

Mr Buttigieg said it took his office a long time to study a particular case especially where the applicants had no documents to substantiate their claims.

Explaining that the case became more complicated when an applicant "invented" or attempted to fabricate evidence that he or she came from a particular country, Mr Buttigieg said the majority of those who reached Maltese shores by boat carried no documents.

"It is the task of the commission to verify the information provided by the applicants during the interview with other sources," he said.

Mr Buttigieg said that through cross examination, and even from the way in which the immigrants told their stories, the commissioner could determine whether a case was genuine or not.

Among the difficulties encountered when dealing with some applicants were the language barrier, their lack of cooperation and assessing credibility.

One immigrant had pretended to be deaf and dumb and managed to fool the police and the Refugee Commissioner for more than three months, to the point that a sign language interpreter had been called in to assist in the case. "He started talking when his case was refused," Mr Buttigieg said.

"In some cases it was really difficult to determine whether they were genuine. In certain cases you are left with nothing else but your moral conviction," Mr Buttigieg said, adding that in case of doubt, applicants were often given the benefit.