Asylum Seekers, MAlta.


  • Photographer
    Albertina d'Urso
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Freelance
  • Date of Photograph
    July 2013

Malta is too small to assimilate them and, after all, they did not even want to come here. Most of them never heard of it until they came across it during their journey to a promised and unknown land named Europe. They are the thousands of refugees arriving from Sub-Saharan Africa. Their stories are all similar, they come countries where war and inhumane living conditions force them to flee in search of a better life. After a long and exhausting journey, crammed onto makeshift boats, they reach what for them is "salvation"…

Story

Malta is too small to assimilate them and, after all, they did not even want to come here. Most of them never heard of it until they came across it during their journey to a promised and unknown land named Europe.

They are the thousands of refugees arriving from Sub-Saharan Africa. Their stories are all similar: for the most part, they come from Somalia, but also from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo… countries where war and inhumane living conditions force them to flee in search of a better life. After a long and exhausting journey, they arrive in Libya, where they are usually imprisoned for months. From there, they are crammed onto makeshift boats and try to reach what for them is "salvation".

They usually arrive in Malta by chance; they are heading for Italy but something goes wrong and they are forced to ask the Maltese army for help. Once on dry land, they ask for asylum, but they then face up to 12 months in detention (18 months if their request is rejected). After this time, they can go to Open Centres, places where they can sleep and eat, but with the possibility of going out and finding accommodation and a job. After a year, they have to find a way of managing on their own.

According to Fabrizio Ellul of UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), even if integration is still something of a pipe dream (in fact according to a survey, more than 50% of Maltese people believe that there are too many migrants and more than 40% said that they have never spoken to any of them), the phenomenon is not yet an emergency: "Since 2002, almost 20,000 have arrived in Malta, but only about 3000 of these have remained on the island. 78% received international protection and then a passport that allows them to travel with a three-month visa to any other country in the European Union; few of them, however, will return. It is said that on arrival in Malta, their fingerprints are taken badly on purpose… so when their visas expire, that is assuming they are ever found, it is impossible to go back to their country of entry."

However, the Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, does not seem to be in agreement. In fact, he has just informed the European Union that if other member countries do not help Malta, his government will ignore conventions and adopt a policy of refused entry.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.