The number of case officers working at the Office of the Refugee Commissioner practically doubled over the past six months, this newspaper has learnt.

This change is already having a positive impact on the system, as migrants’ cases are being dealt with in a faster, more efficient manner, Refugee Commissioner Mario Friggieri told The Malta Independent in an interview.

Mr Friggieri explained that the main, and sometimes toughest, challenge of the office is to establish the truth about migrants’ claims.

According to statistics obtained from the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, only seven migrants were granted refugee status this year. However, out of a total of 860 processed applications, 523 migrants were granted humanitarian protection.

Mr Friggieri said about 250 migrants are currently being interviewed every month. He said that this was still not a big enough number, but the 13 case officers working at the office are doing their very best to reduce the backlog of applications from summer and from last year.