The Issue of Illegal Immigrants in Malta

Fortless City, Valetta
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I am back in Malta, where I spent 10 days of my Easter break 4 years ago. Since I was here before and did most of sightseeing, I took part in a study tour about 'Human Rights and the Illegal Immigrants in Malta', which brought a rising attention in Maltese society these days. There were only 15 people in this tour, and we already knew each other through an introductory session on board. A lawyer who works for the NGO 'Peace Lab' came to pick us up and we left the port to visit its office.

Cathedral
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As soon as we arrived at their office, the founder of the NGO started talking about Maltese history. What he told us was that Malta was always involved in the war due to its peculiar location (inbetween European continent and African continent), and the reason why he founded the NGO was that he was indeed aware the importance of peace education in order to put a seed of peace during the Cold War.

Illegal immigrants were survivors

Maltese Bus
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After his lecture, we went to have a lunch in Imdina. The restaurant located in an underground, and there was still an underground way which was used as a shelter during the war. We had a Maltese meat ball with tomato source, one of the typical Maltese home dishes.

We visited Malsa Open Centre after lunch, which is a home for illegal immigrants who have spent up to 15 months in detention centre. The building was used to be a school, and now more than 700 people are living there. Firstly, an English guy who is currently running the Open Centre gave us a short talk about the background of illegal immigrants in Malta and what the Open Centre offers to them. He first mentioned that the illegal immigrants in Malta were 'Survivors'. Surprisingly, one in five illegal immigrants who tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea dies during their trip due to the bad weather or the boat which is not strong enough to cross the sea. These immigrants just arrived in Malta by chance, and they have been stuck in Malta since they had no money to go back to their countries or to go to the countries which have more established support for refugees.

Lovely colour of honey stones
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Most of the illegal immigrants here in Malta were from the African countries, of which have/had long- term internal/intrastate conflict. They believed that once they left their countries and arrived in European countries, they can get their dreaming life. But in reality, what was waiting for them was far different from what they have expected… In case of Malta, they have to spend up to 15 months in a detention centre which does not allow them to go outside. We also walked around the Open Centre with the explanation by two South African guys. There were internet café, restaurants, grocery shops, barbars, classrooms for language classes and mosques inside the centre, which were all run by illegal immigrants who live there.

Gozo, Malta
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Back in the Peace Lab office, we had a lecture by a doctor who used to be an illegal immigrant but currently hold Maltese citizenship and worked as a doctor in Valletta, Malta. He talked about his own experience, racism in Malta (there is a strong racism against African immigrants in Malta), lack of sufficient governmental support to immigrants etc… He was very enthusiastic to tell us about what he had faced with and what is happening in Malta at the moment. At the very end of his talks, he was about to cry.

I hardly knew about the issues in Malta when I spent my holiday in Malta. It was such a great opportunity to get to know about the things I did not know. Participants who joined the tour were all keen on learning about the issue so that we had a nice discussion. It was also rewarding and challenging to be an interpreter for this study tour.