The Refugee Commissioner began the year with 149 applicants waiting for their case to be concluded and a further 692 applicants awaiting processing of their application to begin, but ended the year with 211 applicants awaiting a decision on their application and a further 720 people still awaiting the processing of their application to begin.

In his statement outlining the work done during the year, Refugee Commissioner Charles Buttigieg said the commission had concluded the cases of 1,210 applicants from 39 different nations during the year.

Of these, 28 had been recognised as refugees, 522 were given humanitarian protection, the applications of 637 had been rejected and 23 had withdrawn their application.