Migration Island: The Plight of African Refugees in Malta
DEVELOPMENTS
As the third most densely-populated nation in the world, the island country of Malta is best known for its pristine beaches, centuries-old temples, and blue lagoons. Centered in the Mediterranean Sea, Malta will be celebrating its sixth anniversary in the EU this year.
However, its membership in the Union has been plagued with difficulties. While experiencing a decrease in tourism and a decline in its GDP this year, Malta has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of migrants seeking refuge. While only 24 individuals came illegally in 2000, Malta has received over 12,500 immigrants since 2002 – thus making Malta the most heavily burdened EU state in per capita asylees.
Comprised of 400,000 people in an area twice the size of Washington D.C., Malta has been unable to cope with this surge. With the current legal framework requiring the immigrants be detained on the island– the Maltese have been unable to support these immigrants financially and unwilling to accept them socially. With claims of unparalleled xenophobia and gross infringements of their human rights, these refugees are now seeking refuge out of Malta.
BACKGROUND
As a prerequisite to joining the EU, Malta signed the Dublin Regulation. This EU law mandates which member is responsible in adjudicating an “irregular immigrant’s” application for asylum. Under this law, a refugee must be detained and examined in the EU country he first enters – even if that location is merely a transit point to another member-state. If an immigrant travels through Malta undetected and reaches another EU state, theoretically, the immigrant would be sent back to Malta for asylum processing – and cannot be released until a decision has been reached. The effect of this provision has been crushing to Malta. Situated 180 miles north of Africa and 58 miles south of Sicily, many immigrants never intend on travelling to Malta. However, due to emergencies or mere mistake, these immigrants land in Malta on course to Italy. The result is that an overwhelming amount of refugees enter a country that they had no intent on entering – and because of the Dublin Regulation, the immigrants are detained in Malta until a final decision is reached.
According to the European Migration Network, roughly half the immigrants were approved for asylum last year, but many others only received subsidiary humanitarian protection. This status allows them to work and stay in Malta only until the humanitarian crisis in their native country improves. This status generally does not grant them permission to travel to other EU countries unless a special travel document is obtained. Even those denied asylum stay because Malta has yet to develop reciprocity agreements with many African countries. Therefore, thousands of immigrants are left stranded in Malta. Malta’s Minister of Home Affairs insists the government has done its best under these circumstances. Besides offering asylum seekers free housing at open centers once they are released from detention centers, the government provides food and transport for unemployed immigrants, social security benefits, and rent subsidies. The head of the armed forces, Brigadier Carmel Vassallo, recognizes that this is unsustainable in the wake of its financial crisis.
However, the international community has found the quality of assistance unacceptable. Currently, three detention centers house thousands of African immigrants up to 18 months when they first arrive. Critics argue that these closed detention centers are inconsistent with even a minimal standard of human dignity. One foreign minister described them as ghettos. The situation at these centers is so severe that the international organization Doctors without Borders (“DWB”) suspended its operations in protest because the conditions are so appallingly inhumane. In its latest report, DWB found that the facilities offer inappropriate shelter and some detainees are forced to sleep in tents and open containers. Further, Amnesty International reported this year that detainees who ask for a doctor and are found not to be sick are often punished with solitary confinement.
Humanitarian organizations also argue the free housing provided to immigrants, after detention, is equally appalling. These open centers have minimal running water and standing water accumulates on the floor – breeding mosquito larva. When beds are available, they are placed so close together that disease easily spreads. If the cramped quarters do not cause disease, the sewage seeping through the walls does. The kitchens are made of cheap plywood, ravaged by fire damage, and have no amenities.
On the other hand, the Maltese citizens have criticized the government for providing too much financial assistance, resulting in social tension and xenophobia between the groups. According to a survey by the Fundamental Rights Agency, 64% of all Muslims, mainly irregular immigrants, reported being discriminated against in the past twelve months – the highest percentage in Europe. This blatant racism and discrimination has made it more difficult for the African community, mostly uneducated, male immigrants, to procure employment. Furthermore, another survey carried out by a local paper reported that only 25% of all Maltese have even had spoken to an irregular immigrant. In the same survey, 55% of all Maltese reported that if the authorities receive a distress call from a boat of refugees, they should offer their help to immigrants on the high seas but allow the migrants to proceed on their journey to another country – thus advocating for the violation of the Dublin Regulation and international law. Another 5% of Maltese said that the government should just let them drown.
ANALYSIS
Malta has attempted to remedy this situation by seeking monetary aid from the EU. The government claims that after repeated requests, the EU provided some monetary assistance but the amount has been minimal and ineffective. Exacerbating this problem, the money Malta received was allocated to reimbursing its administrative costs - very little assistance was earmarked to improving the facilities.
While an increase in financial assistance is needed to improve the conditions at the centers, it is not a long-term solution to this problem. The solution must come from a written agreement between Malta and EU members, where the members share the responsibility of asylum seekers by accepting them into their own countries. With the size of Malta, every 1500 refugees is the equivalent of 1.125 million in the United States, and thus a written schedule must be created to dilute the influx of refugees.
While the EU has promised to accept refugees in the past, Malta asserts that they have been mere symbolic gestures from the EU and public pressure has prevented them from carryout their promises. The few times the states have accepted immigrants were so slight that it has had only a negligible impact on Malta’s costs. Alternatively, the EU and Malta should seek to carve out an exception in the Dublin Regulation, allowing refugees from Malta to seek asylum in their intended destination. As it currently stands, this law has resulted in countless immigrants being detained in Malta, which for most, was never their intended destination.
Until the EU takes its “burden-sharing” responsibilities seriously or amends the Dublin Regulation, it seems like the refugees will continue to be marginalized and stranded on an island that does not want them there.
D. Marko Cimbaljevich is an attorney in Washington, D.C. He graduated magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America – Columbus School of Law, where he served on the school’s International Arbitration Moot Court Team and Note & Comment Editor of the Catholic University Law Review.