Malta - A joint IOM-UNHCR report: “Unaccompanied Migrant and Refugee Children: Alternatives to Detention in Malta” was launched yesterday at the San Anton Palace in Attard, Malta.

The report summarizes findings and recommendations from a joint IOM and UNHCR technical mission which took place in Malta in May this year. It outlines the main elements of the current national reception system for migrant children arriving from North Africa by sea and puts forward recommendations in seven specific areas that require further work, according to the two organizations.

Yesterday’s event was hosted by Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and participants included IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, who introduced the report. Maltese Minister for Home Affairs and National Security Dr. Emanuel Mallia, Minister for Family and Social Solidarity Dr. Michael Farrugia, and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne also attended.

“Since 2002, the number of unaccompanied children arriving in Malta has been on the rise and minors are usually held in detention centres while being identified as underage. When the determination process and the necessary health checks are completed, the authorities appoint a legal guardian and the child is removed from the detention centre and placed in a facility for unaccompanied migrant children,” said Ambassador Swing.

“Malta has systems in place to respond to mixed migration and asylum challenges. But the sustained pressure of numbers in recent years and new EU regulation have led the Maltese Government to pursue further enhancement and, in particular, commit to improve the reception system for unaccompanied children arriving in the country, in line with the requirements of the application of the best interests principle as provided for in the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” he noted.

“IOM is delighted to see that Malta has lived up to the commitment made last February by the Prime Minister that no child should be kept in detention. We are ready to assist the government in the sphere of primary reception and in identifying funds and key projects which will facilitate the issue of migration flows in Malta,” he added.

UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, who addressed the meeting in a video message, called for strengthening of rescue at sea, increasing legal alternatives to find protection in Europe, and improving access to asylum and solutions for people in need of international protection – including the most vulnerable of all, separated and unaccompanied children. “The ones who survive the trip are the fortunate ones,” he said.

The limited opportunities to enter Europe by regular means lead thousands of people fleeing persecution and conflict to embark on dangerous sea routes to find safety. This year alone over 165,000 people, including 10,000 unaccompanied children, have made the dangerous journey crossing the Mediterranean. During what may be the deadliest year on record, around 3,000 people, many of them children, have died or gone missing.

In 2013, 2,008 people arrived in Malta by boat, the vast majority applying for asylum. Of these, 443 claimed to be unaccompanied children. This year arrivals in Malta have fallen to 474, largely due to the Italian navy’s Operation Mare Nostrum, which has led to a significant increase in arrivals in Italy. But the continuing arrivals, mainly from Libya, still put tremendous pressure on Malta’s infrastructure for receiving and housing children.

The IOM-UNHCR report recommends the establishment of a primary reception centre for minors to address the need for early identification, assessment, family tracing, family reunification and care of unaccompanied children. When appropriate, counselling for assisted voluntary repatriation could contribute to the minors’ best interest assessment and determination processes.

Other recommendations include the possibility of IOM assisting the government in carrying out family tracing initiatives and family assessments for family reunification purposes. IOM and UNHCR, with selected NGOs, could also become part of a permanent Maltese inter-ministerial task force designed to address gaps in migration management and provide authorities with current information from the migrants’ countries of origin.

The full report can be downloaded from: http://www.iom.int/files/live/sites/iom/files/pbn/docs/Unaccompanied-Migrant-and-Refugee-Children-Alternatives-to-Detention-in-Malta.pdf

For more information, please contact

Flavio di Giacomo
IOM Rome
Tel: +39.347.089.8996/ +39.0644.186.20 7
Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int

or

Martine Cassar
IOM Malta
Tel: +356 21 37 46 13
Mobile: +356 9982 3994
E-mail: mcassar@iom.int