The Somalis in Malta

First of all, we would like to express our deeply rooted, full respect to the public and the government of our host country (Malta) who, despite the small size of the island and its limited resources, struggle to do their best to find a solution to some of the problems we have been suffering for a long time.

As it is widely known to everyone, in the past few years many immigrants from different nations in Africa have landed on Maltese shores. Among them were Somali nationals who, because of the long-term civil war and disorder in the country where there exists the law of the jungle (the powerful hunt the weak), were attempting to get to a safe place to keep themselves alive.

Since early 2002, many Somali asylum seekers have come to Malta. In detention for months, they have usually submitted their asylum applications stating their reason for leaving their mother land, although their claims were different according to the danger they would be facing if still in Somalia. They were all rejected except one or two, rather strange considering the European and international levels of acceptance of Somali asylum applications. But the Somalis thought that the reason was the size of the country and the fact that it could not afford to give them the necessary accommodation. So they mostly decided to leave Malta and seek asylum elsewhere.

After 2004, when Malta joined the European Union and signed the Dublin convention (regulations on asylum applications processing), it became difficult for these people to establish a new life in other EU countries. However, Somalis continued with their attempts and mostly managed to avoid coming to Malta except for 300 or so. Somalis didn't lose their hope of building a new life outside Malta.

Taking many facts into consideration, we, the Somalis, are the immigrants who most make an effort to ease the burdens thrown on Malta's shoulders. Unfortunately, we get discouragement instead of encouragement. For instance, if one of us was refused entry into a country outside Malta because his one-year travel document was inadequate, he is thrown outside the camp he used to live in and this creates fear among some people of losing their shelter if they try to leave in search of a better life. Thus, readers should not be surprised if they only see Somali families with their new-born children living in the streets or in a dark hall lacking electricity and all other facilities such as cooking equipment, unlike the rest of the immigrants here.

I would like to list some of our complaints:

1) The government does make a distinction between religious and humanitarian issues. They should not give such huge powers to religious people that have a decision-making role in immigrant issues, such as the issuing of travel documents, resettlement and housing programmes. These people tell the immigrants that once they leave the detention centres "this is not a government office, it is a Church office". In the last resettlement of some immigrants to Germany not a single Somali national was included although they were the first people to submit their applications and the names of their relatives there.

2) Nearly all the Somali asylum seekers were rejected despite the differences in their applications and in 2005 most of the few Somalis who had been granted refugee status had their status withdrawn. When they asked why they were told: "You are Somalis"! Some of these people were granted refugee status by the UNHCR a long time ago and without clear justification this was withdrawn by the Maltese authorities.

3) On October 2, 2004 a small boat carrying 23 Somalis asylum landed in Malta and a few days later six of them were taken to an unknown place even before submitting their applications. This is clearly the opposite of what the government says in the media, that the Maltese immigration policy is to protect those who need protection.

4) The government offices dealing with workers, such as the Employment and Training Corporation and the Social Security Department, do not provide the necessary protection to Somali workers who contribute tax and NI and who are abused by their employers. Sometimes they are not paid or are given bad cheques. Or they are made to work longer hours than the law allows without being paid overtime, or are paid less than the minimum wage or denied their leave or sick leave entitlement.

5) The Somalis who work legally contribute tax and NI but their wives and children do not have the right to obtain a visa. The Somalis have no right to full health care and it's often that one hears doctors saying that "we cannot do this for you because you are not a refugee or have humanitarian protection". These Somalis are not entitled to a children's allowance either.

We are the recently formed Somali community in Malta appealing here to the Maltese government to open up new ways in which the immigrants can communicate with the authorities.