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Another View from Malta...Re Boat people, refugees, illegal Emigrants

John Dalli (malta) | 05.02.2009 18:46 | Migration | Social Struggles

Another View from Malta...Re Boat people, refugees, illegal Emigrants.

















Here's a view from the Tiny island of Malta which is 120 miles from Libya (North Africa) and 60 miles from Italy.
Malta is 8 miles wide and 18 milesLong...it has a population of 400,000...Regarded as the most densly populated
country on earth.


In Malta we have a constant influx of Boat People arriving or being rescued from the Sea (sometimes 100 miles away).
There are a couple of thousand in Detention Camps in malta...with a constant flow of new arrivals.

This week alone 200 arrived so far. (thursday)

It usually goes like this:
They leave Libya on small craft to sail for Italy (about 200 miles away). They have no intention of coming to Malta.
One of the 'Passengers' will have a Satelite phone who will phone the Italian Coast Guard with a Mayday rescue call.
after a couple hours at sea, thinking they are near Italy.


The Italian coast guard pin points their position using the Satelite phone.
As it's not in the Italian 'Search and Rescue Zone' the italians then pass the message to the Malta Search and Rescue.

The Maltese can not ignore a Distress signal at Sea so must go and 'Rescue' the boatload (100-200 or so) of Men,
women, children.

As the first port of call, Malta must accept them and can not pass them on to Italy.
The new arrivals have no 'Papers' and will not say where they are from..( so can not be Deported).

So...What can Malta do these with 200 or so arriving weekly ? Malta has no accomodation for so many !

So they are put in to a Refugee camp where they are Clothed, fed and given spending money by the
Malta government until they can establish if they have ' Refugee Status' and given leave to stay and live in Malta.
Those who are not given Refugee status..Must stay in Malta though live in the camp.

At the Refugee camp tensions are high...Mostly due to the fact that they are angry to be in Malta and not Italy.

They DONT want to be in Malta...But are stuck there.

The Maltese are in a Difficult situation.
What can they do ?

It's very tiny island and can not let every one stay there (though a quite lot are given 'Refugee or Humanitarian status '

Riots in the camp are common place and Maltese 'Guards' are constantly attacked.

Frustration all around.

I thought I'd post this here so to get poeples Views .

Malta has Rescued all the craft and has never turned any one away...But we have no where to put these people.



John Dalli (malta)

Comments

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refuges

05.02.2009 19:42

i no from past visits to malta [7] and speaking to the locals, i think the problem you have could go through the european parliament, E/U.
Such a tiny island can not accomate folk even if malta wanted to.
last time i was in malta 2005 the prison was holding the boat people and there was talk of opening the old british barracks near golden sands.
i would really go to the E/U and parliament on what i see is passing the buck regarding italy, maltese people are by far the best folk on this earth and would not turn any one away, but malta i feel is at its bursting point so to speak, go to valita and speak to some one on parliament day.
or you could send me a ticket and i will come and talk to them for you parliament.

Davey

Some Info

06.02.2009 15:12

Well it's better to give all the fucks rather than give half of them so here are my two cents. Most of the immigrants who arrive in Malta in fact don't remain here so Malta is not swarmed by immigrants because most of them leave the island when they save enough money.

It is not true that immigrants are attacking the local soldiers either causing a riot as these cases have happened very occasionally. In fact most of them have good relations with other locals and they are not viewed as a threat except for racists and xenophobics.

In fact we need some immigrants because they are making jobs which Maltese people don;t want to do anymore such as garbage collector. If immigrants are all employed with legal status and pay taxes to the government they can be very good for the economy.

The biggest problem is not immigrants and there is no possibility that immigrants will ever swarm these islands and replace us or even be a great burden on the government finances (we have much more bigger problems with finances than immigrants). Some of our soldiers have been very kind and ethical but others have used excessive violence: again the problem of racism.

Another Maltese