Integrated migrant families ‘should be allowed Maltese citizenship’

Migrant families who have settled and integrated in Malta should be allowed to acquire Maltese citizenship, the Children’s Commissioner has said.

In a statement, Pauline Miceli hit out at the government’s decision to revoke Temporary Humanitarian Protection – N(ew) permits for failed asylum seekers.

“Not only should migrants who have settled in Malta and integrated in Maltese society have their THP renewed but they should be given a more definite and permanent status,” she said. “The fact that some of these migrants have given birth to and are raising children in Malta is a clear sign that Malta is their actual home. The Office believes that it is in the best interest of these migrant children for the status of the entire family unit to be regularized, since this safeguards the children’s fundamental right to a family life.

“The pathway that is set out should include citizenship as a right that migrant families with children should be able to accede to at some point in the course of their lives in Malta.

“The pathway should not be limited to those children who are born in Malta but equally to those migrant children who were born in other countries but who have settled and integrated here whether or not they enjoy international protection.

“Progress has been made especially in terms of the reception conditions of child migrants, who are no longer being detained pending administrative and medical clearance. However, a lot more needs to be done to facilitate the integration of child migrants and their families. This cannot happen if they are allowed to live in Malta for years with the threat of a condition of statelessness and possible deportation hanging over their heads.”

Miceli also warned that the THP – which was introduced in 2010 - is in itself an “inherently flawed” system because it doesn’t allow failed asylum seekers to gain a more permanent status, no matter for how long they would have been living, working and raising their children in Malta.

Her statement comes in the wake of a story by MaltaToday last Sunday that a married couple who have been in Malta since 2005 – as well as their two children who were born on the island – will be deported to Eritrea once their THPn expires in August next year.

Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela today decried the report as false, noting that the majority of Eritrean migrants in Malta qualify for asylum.