Destination Europe: A small country with a huge responsibility: Malta bears the brunt of the European refugee problem

Utrecht, May 1^st

“600 Africans perished at sea”. “Spanish coastguard intercepts a boat with refugees again”. In the past few years, news reports about Africans travelling in perilous boats, looking for a better life in Europe have filled many headlines in the European media. For these refugees, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands and Lampedusa in Italy were the most popular destinations. However, much less in known about the thousands of African refugees that Malta has been receiving since 2000.

Indeed, boat refugees often don’t choose to arrive in Malta, a small island in front of the Libyan coast that joined the European Union in 2004. Most of the refugees are on their way to Italy but get in distress at sea. As Malta is responsible to rescue people in need in an enormous part of the Mediterranean Sea (250.000 m2, which is 791 times her own surface), it often happens that refugees unwillingly have to apply for asylum in Malta. According to the Dublin II Convention (2003), refugees can only issue an asylum application in the country they first enter. And due to its geographical location, Malta has become the country of arrival for a disproportionate number of African immigrants in comparison with the rest of Europe. For the small country of Malta, with its 400.000 inhabitants, this is a huge burden.

So from both the Maltese side as from the side of refugees, one cannot speak of a ‘match’. Refugees consider Malta as a mere transit point to another EU-country that presents them with more possibilities; Malta is not able anymore to bear the high numbers of refugees and is often forced to accommodate them in detention centres, where they await the result of their asylum request. This process takes about 12 to 18 months.

The situation of these African refugees was the main reason for Europe’s largest students forum AEGEE to organize a study visit to Malta. The event took place within the framework of the project ‘Destination Europe’ that focuses specifically on illegal migration from Africa to Europe.

From the 10^th to the 14^th of April 2008, 25 youngsters from the whole Euro-Mediterranean region came together to learn more about this issue. The participants, coming from diverse countries like Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, discussed with each other and listened to the stories of different NGO’s and youth workers who are dealing with migrants in Malta. This enabled the participants to compare the Maltese situation with the one in their own country and worked towards a better understanding of illegal migration, its causes and its consequences.

One of the activities during the event was a visit to the Marsa open refugee centre, located in Malta’s harbour area. This centre, housed in an old school building, is fit to accommodate 400 refugees. Currently 1600 people are living there already: 1599 men and one woman. Most of the refugees are from Somalia, but there are also considerable numbers of refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan; regions where there has been a lot of unrest in the past, or where the situation is still unbearable.

The people that are living in the Marsa centre can be considered to be real survivors: for every refugee that made it to Malta, four have died on the sea. (Frame suggestion 1)

Terry Gosden, since 4 years the manager of the open centre, guides the students around: “Look at this area; we are hidden away in the harbour, the water around the centre is heavily polluted and the building is way too small for all the people it has to accommodate”. But Terry also speaks enthusiastically about the centre’s residents: “Every Somali can present his family tree back up to 200 years. The people here have an impressive memory. But they also experienced the most horrible events. However, we are seriously lacking a psychological model to help this people with that. The known Anglo-Saxon models are totally inapplicable for their situation.”

Besides Marsa, there is also a refugee centre in Hal Far. Here, the conditions are even worse. First of all because the refugees are accommodated in military tents, as if they are living in a conflict zone in European territory. Secondly, this camp is located next to the airport, so everyday the refugees see the planes to Europe flying by.” And Europe seems to be the only refuge for these people, because going back to their home country is not an option at all. (Frame suggestion 1)

During the last day of the study visit, the participants discussed their experiences and looked for possible solutions for this problem. It was surprising to see that most participants waved away possibilities to host refugees in their own countries. One Tunisian participant expressed that it was impossible for his country to host any refugees without any help from the European Union: “Tunisia doesn’t have the means to receive any refugees. The country lives on tourism and can not even support itself. That’s why we keep our borders firmly closed. Personally I saw a boat with refugees arriving in the village where I live, the people came through Libya. The refugees were received by the authorities but actually they didn’t want to be there at all.”

The participants from Egypt tell about a time when a lot of refugees from Darfur came to Cairo and set up their tents in the middle of the city’s largest square. This caused a lot of commotion, and it was clear that the refugees couldn’t stay there. Most of them moved on to Israel. The Spanish participants express how their country is already taking up many refugees and migrants from Africa, and also they have reached their max.

During the study visit, the participants expressed the urgent need to design a more coherent EU-policy on illegal migration, in relation to the ‘unfair’ proportion of refugees between coming to Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy and Malta, in contrast to the Northern countries of the EU. That is why they recommend a revision of the 2003 Dublin Convention. This kind of ‘burden sharing’ would definitely solve some of Malta’s problems.

Furthermore they also recognized that more money should be allowed to decrease the period of detention of refugees in Malta. At the moment, the period that refugees spend in detention is in deep violation of their human rights. From talks with the local population, the participants also felt the need to inform Maltese citizens better about the situation of refugees, and to foster their integration into society.

Later on, the project “Destination Europe” will also devote attention to other aspects in the process of illegal migration from Africa to Europe, like human trafficking through North African countries and the reception of refugees in Spain.

For more information, have a look at www.aegee.org/destinationeurope

Tjerk Destombes en Judith

Suggestion 1:

Abdel is a Somali refugee who learnt English from books and TV. He would love to go back to his country but he simply cannot because of the ongoing conflicts. He invites us to have a tea in one of the two Somalian restaurants in the centre. While we are sipping from our tea, he tells us about life in the centre and the lack of prospects for refugees in Malta. But in the way Abdel and his co-residents speak English, it becomes clear to us that he and other refugees could definitely benefit the Maltese society in many ways.

Suggestion 2:

The fact that it goes quite well with the people in the Marsa centre can, according to Gosden, be attributed to the ‘management model’ he developed within the centre and which seems very satisfactory to its residents. Gosden works with a multicultural staff including European volunteers (Maltese, Dutch, Americans) and a ‘cultural advisor’ from every African country (Somalia, Eritrea, etc). There is no hierarchy, which means that every staff member is equal. In this way, cultural values are constantly exchanged and this leads to mutual respect and avoidance of conflicts. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the centre can get really tense sometimes, as when Gosden needs to leave us for a moment to check on a mentally instable person who is bound to be deported back to his country.

Participants discussing