2013: One in every four immigrants were minors, mostly unaccompanied

The Armed Forces Malta intercepted a total of 24 boats last year, all of which departed from Libya.

23 February 2014, 12:00am
by James J. Piscopo

1 min read

TWEET SHARE

One in every four irregular immigrants who arrived in Malta last year were minors, Illum newspaper reports.

The majority were unaccompanied and aged between 16 and 18.

Last year, the total number of incoming immigrants stood at 2,008, 118 more than the preceding year.

Often travelling on insecure and crowded boats, asylum-seekers have been met with both sympathy as well as exasperation while travelling in hazardous conditions.

During 2013, the Armed Forces Malta intercepted a total of 24 boats, all of which had departed from Libya, UNHCR Malta told Illum.

Speaking to the Sunday newspaper, an official of the UN refugee agency explained that boats were not the only mode of arrival for asylum-seekers, confirmed by statistics in 2013 which revealed that 350 asylum-seekers did not arrive by sea.

The majority of immigrants arrived from sub-Saharan countries Somalia and Eritrea while refugees from war-torn Syria and neighbouring Palestine amounted to 8% and 3% respectively. Nigerian refugees amounted to 4%.

Read more in today’s edition of Illum.

•

Remember that these teenagers or young men will become Men in a few years and that is how Adolph Hitler took over most of Europe. He trained the young and told them that they are a special race,superior to others if you will and they believed that crap. Now the Arab and African leaders are doing the same in a different way. If Libya is our nearest neighbor and a good friend as we claim they are then Why are they letting these boats to leave their shore knowing very well that they are coming to Malta and Lampedusa? If Libya was a real friend of Malta they would stop these boats from leaving their shores in the first place. Libya has a Navy and even an Air Force same like us but they chose to ignore these escapades by the illegal immigrants. Matter of fact they do not have to listen to the EU, the NGOs and the bleeding hearts. They did not sign the 1985 Schengen Agreement, and thus they are not bound by any rules. If the Libyans want to fight the illegal immigrants they should send them south beyond their borders and not allow them to get on their boats so they can invade Malta. Libya is no friend of ours. Libya is an opportunist taking advantage of the Maltese people..