Momentum proposes path to Maltese citizenship for stateless children

Momentum has proposed a legal pathway to Maltese citizenship at 18 for stateless children raised and educated in Malta, to give them certainty about their future.

“We are talking about a very small number of young people who have grown up in Malta and know no other home,” Momentum general secretary Mark Camilleri Gambin said. He explained that stateless children are not recognised as nationals by any country, facing difficulties accessing basic rights and services, and growing up without secure legal status.

The 2021 Census recorded 171 stateless people in Malta, almost half of whom were children. According to Momentum, many children who have grown up and attended school here cannot acquire their parents’ nationality or any other nationality.

The proposal would cover children who are stateless or at risk of becoming stateless and have a long-standing connection with Malta. They would need to have been born here or arrived at a very young age and successfully completed the full cycle of compulsory primary and secondary education in Malta.

Moviment Graffitti previously called for an end to child statelessness by publishing a policy paper on this reality in Malta.

However, the pathway would also depend on them having had no serious brushes with the law.

Camilleri Gambin said the proposal rested on a connection built through childhood, education and integration, rather than birth in Malta alone. He also sought to distinguish the proposal from wider migration policy.

“We should be able to address this human and legal issue without confusing it with the much broader debate on migration policy, as these are two completely different issues,” Camilleri Gambin said.

Momentum said clear and objective rules would give these young people certainty about their future, encourage them to pursue their studies and support integration and respect for the law.