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MATTHEW VELLA looks at some of the most common questions and misconceptions about asylum seekers and refugees
1. How many asylum seekers come to Malta and do we have more immigrants per head than other EU Member States?
Figures vary from one year to the other. Based on the figures supplied by the Home Affairs Ministry, between 2002 and 2004, the rate of arrivals was 3.04 asylum seekers per 1,000 Maltese. The EU average in 2002 was 1.1, however this is based on a population of 500 million people, some countries of which do not have a frequent migratory influx.
According to the figures of those asylum seekers who were either awarded refugee status or temporary humanitarian protection, today there are an average of 2.8 protected migrants for every 1,000 Maltese. The figure is probably lower: the absolute majority are given temporary protection, which is usually up for renewal after 12 months and can often be refused. Usually, many of these migrants leave the island to go to Europe, legally or illegally.
Arrivals Refugees THP
2002 1680 22 111
2003 568 53 328
2004 1400 49 560
2. Why do they come to Malta instead of going to mainland Europe?
Asylum seekers leaving the North African coast, mainly from Libya, hope they will land in Sicily or Italy. When traffickers dump them in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, their fate depends upon whether they actually make it to Italy, or whether they drift into Maltese territorial waters, where they have to be escorted into the island by the Maltese coastguard according to international law. Asylum seekers never plan on coming to Malta. Catching a boat from Libya to mainland Europe reportedly costs some USD 1,000.
3. Where do they come from?
Although the origin of asylum seekers changes from year to year depending on the international situation, Malta’s main influx is currently from Somalia, Eritrea, Egypt, Palestine, and Sudan, in that order of frequency.
4. What’s the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee?
An asylum seeker is someone hoping to be given permission to stay in another country having fled persecution in their native country. A refugee is someone who has been given that permission, and therefore in the eyes of the law is as entitled to live in the country that has granted them asylum as anyone who was born there.
5. Why does the south of the island have a lot of asylum seekers?
The south is not exclusive territory for refugees: the small number of asylum seekers housed in the Hal-Far open centre often catch buses which take them through the south of the island to go to Valletta. However, refugees are also taken care of by other NGOs and the Church, which offers them accommodation elsewhere around the island, particularly around the harbour area. Unaccompanied asylum seekers are housed by the government at Dar is-Sliem in Santa Venera and Dar Frate Francesco in Birkirkara. Eventually, the former San Guzepp Haddiem boys school in Albert Town, Marsa, will be converted into a reception centre for asylum seekers.
6. Do they get more benefits than Maltese people?
Migrants who have been awarded protection by the Maltese state have the right to work and are entitled to free education and health services. They are also provided with a travelling document. Those in need are housed in Open Centres either run by the Government, by the Church or NGOs. In the open centres they are given three free meals a day, but once they are granted refugee status they have to fend for themselves. Children attend state schools. Refugees are entitled to all social benefits while persons granted temporary humanitarian protection are given a daily allowance.
7. Why are there so many young male asylum seekers?
The Jesuit Refugee Service says it is far easier for males to travel than women, who could be subject to sexual abuse or caught up in the sex trade. Men are normally able to be in a better position to earn a decent wage and send money back to their families. Most of them are avoiding mandatory military conscription, as in the case of Eritrea, where anyone under the age of 40 can be called in to serve the military. Asylum seekers are typically young men who work with the government, are at university, or are members of a banned political group or organisation.
8. Is it true that they are uncooperative with the authorities?
The Jesuit Refugee Society has often pointed out the appalling conditions in which asylum seekers are kept at the detention camps, which has been confirmed by the Ombudsman, the Council of Europe’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UNHCR, who visited the camps and harshly criticised the conditions in which asylum seekers were kept, claiming that this led to frustration and psychological stress, which might give rise to riots when matters reach boiling point, especially when asylum seekers have been here for over a year.
According to an Armed Forces of Malta spokesperson, ‘Third-Country Nationals’ (TCNs) at the Safi Barracks have often refused food or thrown it away as a sign of protest. “Soldiers guarding or assisting the TCNs have suffered verbal abuse and threats on many an occasion. Most of the TCNs are generally unruly and have done their utmost to repeatedly damage the facilities provided to them. We would be over-generalising if we say that all the TCNs are misbehaved. This is not the case as some of them are well-mannered and well-behaved.”
9. Are they allowed to take our jobs?
Asylum seekers cannot work, according to the Home Affairs Ministry: “The Immigration Act states that anyone entering Malta illegally is held in detention until their application for asylum is decided. If the person is granted refugee status or given temporary humanitarian protection they are allowed to work. If the application is refused, a person can appeal. If even the appeal is turned down the person is then repatriated.”
The Jesuit Refugee Service says that, whilst many will try to leave the country, migrants with protection status are doing the jobs which “the Maltese don’t want to do” such as working in the construction industry, doing housekeeping, or cleaning services.
10. What is expected to happen to asylum seeker numbers over the next few years?
“It is hard to tell,” the Home Affairs Ministry says. “There seems to be no pattern as the arrivals figures in the past three years show. The vast majority of immigrants do not want to come to Malta and their destination is mainland Europe. They land in Malta because they are in distress, either because of inclement weather, engine trouble or fuel shortages.” The Jesuit Refugee Service says the fact that Africa still has a good number of conflicts and a lack of democratic regimes, as well as poverty, it is “assured that migration will continue to move upwards for the next 50 years.”
Sources: Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs; BBCworld.com; United Nations
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