Government pushbacks behind drop in asylum seekers in Malta, report shows

Government pushbacks and reluctance to carry out rescues at sea is believed to be the main reason behind a substantial drop of asylum seekers in the country, the 2022 Asylum Information Database report has shown.

“More than 7,000 people in distress at sea are reported to have been ignored by the authorities and Malta was accused of being directly involved in at least 14 pushback incidents,” the report states.

The report provides in-depth information on the various aspects of the asylum regime: asylum procedure, reception conditions, detention, content of international protection. The report was researched and written by aditus foundation and was edited by European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE).

The top three nationality groups of applicants in 2022, representing 44% of all applicants, were persons fleeing armed conflict or undemocratic regimes: Syrians (243, 25%), Eritreans (93, 10%) and Ukrainians (92, 9%).

At the end of 2022, the majority of pending applications were from applicants who would, at least prima facie, be eventually granted international protection by Malta: Syrians (359), Eritreans (178) and Somalis (166). “Looked at in conjunction with figures of new applications, it is clear that many of these applications have been pending at first instance for at least one year.”

“It is also noted that all decisions relating to applicants from Egypt, Bangladesh and Senegal were based on the safe country of origin concept, as no substantive rejections were issued in relation to any of these applicants,” the report read.

Aditus also pointed out that for the first time in years, entities within the Home Affairs Ministry failed to provide any statistical or of procedural information.

“We were only able to secure asylum statistics through a Freedom of Information request. We hope this approach will not extend into next year’s research process, in a spirit of openness and transparency,” the NGO said. “Access to detention remains an issue for all actors in the field, including the UNHCR.”

Some positive improvements were noted in the report with regard to the reception of unaccompanied minors, “but the legal guardianship system is still plagued by unjustifiable delays and lack of independence of the guardians.”

“All asylum seekers, including vulnerable applicants and unaccompanied minors, rescued at sea are still automatically detained for several weeks after arrival in terms of the Prevention of Disease Ordinance. During this detention period, no entity is permitted to visit them,” the report read.

The reception system is not under pressure anymore and space is largely available in across all open centres. “Despite this, non-vulnerable asylum seekers must exit the open centre at six months and this also terminates material reception conditions.”

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