Emigrants Commission working to reunite refugee families

The Emigrants Commission is working on 54 cases involving refugee families seeking to be reunited.

Mgr Philip Calleja said yesterday there were women whose husbands were living in another country and men whose wives and children where in another land.

Some of the women had arrived in Malta pregnant, three had wanted their husband to be present for the birth but a permit had not been granted. The babies were born and the fathers have not yet seen their children.

Some of the men were going though a really bad patch - one was constantly in and out of the mental hospital. These men had to flee their country, often leaving wives and children behind.

Mgr Calleja said there are cases of others who were receiving bad news about their wives who were in another country.

One heard his wife had died, another that she had drowned and another that his wife's legs had been amputated and there was no one to help her take care of the children.

These cases, Mgr Calleja added, merited compassion and the refugee section of the Emigrants' Commission was proposing a scheme, together with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, for the reunification of such families in another land.

Other refugees, he said, worked hard and begged and sent every cent they earned to their families. As they begged, they asked for a recommendation to open a bank account. They took time off work to wire money to their wife and children or their mothers.

Mgr Calleja said he was worried seeing refugees begging. But at the same time he felt for them and admired their love for their families.

He thanked the many small and big companies that appreciated the efforts of many refugees and employed and cared for them. He was, however, disgusted by some who exploited refugees. These people were either not paid or given bounced cheques and were not compensated for when injured at work.

Mgr Calleja said one had to understand that a person who fled his country at war would not speak the truth and would say he was from another country in order to avoid being repatriated as this would mean death.

Such people changed their names and destroyed personal documents in order to avoid identification. In the circumstances it became difficult for those who wanted to help these people find a solution when the truth eventually became known.

Mgr Calleja hoped that people would start understanding better the plight of refugees. He expressed his disapproval at the distribution of papers in several localities saying that illegal immigrants were not wanted here.