No applications yet for refugee status

None of the illegal immigrants who were rescued at sea by the AFM on Thursday had yet applied for refugee status, Emigrants' Commission spokesman Charles Buttigieg said yesterday.

The commission is the local representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

The Emigrants' Commission has distributed a preliminary questionnaire to each of the immigrants at the various complexes where they are being held under police and army surveillance.

They are being kept at the SAG complex in Ta' Kandja, the Hal Far Immigration Centre, and the Lyster, Hal Far and Safi Barracks.

The 251 immigrants on board a 20-metre launch, the Zimalef, were rescued by the Armed Forces in rough seas 44 nautical miles off Malta and brought ashore on an AFM patrol boat.

The large majority of them - 199 - are Eritreans. There are also 35 Ethiopians, seven Iraqis, two Lebanese, two Syrians, five Somalians and a Sudanese, the police said. They include 167 men, 63 women, 13 boys and eight girls. Their ages range from seven months to 55 years.

Sources had said the immigrants claimed they left from Libya on their way to Italy.

Mr Buttigieg said that in the questionnaire - which is not an application for refugees status - the immigrants were asked to submit personal details such as name, age, place of birth, status and nationality.

In a way, the questionnaire brought to the immigrants' attention their right to request refugee status, he said.

When refugee status is requested, the Emigrants' Commission starts to process the application by first examining whether it is justified.

Commission director Philip Calleja said the illegal immigrants rescued last Thursday had no passports or visas.

With the cooperation of the authorities, the commission took it upon itself to inform the immigrants of their two alternatives: repatriation or the submission of an application for refugee status to be considered by the UNHCR.

The Emigrants' Commission, Mgr Calleja said, had also offered the immigrants the opportunity of informing their relatives that they were safe.

Some Somalis had telephoned the Emigrants' Commission from Italy to enquire about relatives - after hearing that the immigrants had drowned, Mgr Calleja said.

The UNHCR in Rome has also been briefed about the situation of the rescued immigrants.

Mgr Calleja said that the Emigrants' Commission had set up a fund to raise money to be able to provide assistance to the immigrants additional to that provided by the government.

Anyone may contribute to the Refugee Fund 2002 by getting in touch with the Emigrants' Commission on tel. 21 222644.

The commission, along with voluntary organisations, also sought to organise activities to make life easier for the immigrants who are kept under lock and key. In fact, a group of immigrants and children have been taken to swim accompanied by a number of volunteers.

Mgr Calleja said there were over 500 immigrants being kept at various reception centres in Malta.

These include the last group who were rescued outside territorial waters, the 208 immigrants who drifted into Xlendi Bay, Gozo, last March when their 40-foot boat ran out of fuel, and others who had come to Malta illegally on various other occasions

Mgr Calleja said it was very difficult to quantify in money terms what the immigrants were costing the government. Apart from the daily food, one also had to take into consideration the cost of transport to hospital, medicine, care and the wages and overtime of security personnel engaged at the reception complexes.

The latest batch of illegal immigrants did not violate Maltese law concerning illegal entry into the country because their presence here followed a humanitarian operation to rescue them from drowning when they were in international waters.