Government considering integration programme

Try as it might, Malta will never be able to integrate more than a very small number of refugees from Third World countries, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said yesterday.

Such integration is of utmost importance for people who arrive on Malta's shores, a conference heard.

And the debate needs to lead to the implementation of rights and obligations, Alex Tortell, the operations director of the Organisation for the Integration and Welfare of Asylum Seekers, said.

Speaking at a conference about the integration of refugees in Malta, organised by UNHCR on the occasion of World Refugee Day, he outlined a three-pronged integration programme that the government was exploring. This would be based on language tuition, civic and cultural orientation and preparation for the labour market.

Mr Tortell said experience in other countries showed that language competence and legal employment are crucial for the integration of refugees in society. He emphasised the need for research into the long-term employment needs, which would help policy-makers make plans, and highlighted the importance of refugees finding adequate housing and not having to live in open centres for longer than necessary.

But refugees and immigrants are not only suffering because of the hurdles they come across in getting integrated within society; many are suffering because they are separated from their families.

"We have some 800 immigrants who are deprived of their families and it is taking at least three years for them to be reunited," Emigrants Commission head Mgr Philip Calleja said, describing this situation as "inhumane".

Mgr Calleja, who for years has been a champion of immigrants' rights, said it was unjust to keep people in detention merely for having escaped from their country in search for a better life.

Outlining the government's vision for the coming years, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said it should not be acceptable for someone to remain at a reception centre for excessive periods of time at a cost to the public when that same person is expected to start contributing to society as soon as possible.

"Our society needs to come to a stage where newcomers are enabled to participate in it and contribute to it by making it clear what they can be expected to receive and contribute and whatnot."

Refugee Nimo Abdallah Nour spoke about how she fled Somalia with the aim of rebuilding her life. She described how her integration into Maltese society involved learning English and Maltese and about Maltese and European culture.

But most immigrants who arrive in Malta want to leave the island for a country where they can resettle, Mgr Calleja said.

Yet, while resettling refugees might be the most appropriate solution for some, it is not the only solution or the ideal one for many, Neil Falzon, the head of the UNHCR's office in Malta, said.

"Many refugees are already establishing family and social networks in Malta, are engaged in fruitful and rewarding employment, are attending Maltese schools and are very willing to actively interact with Maltese persons who lead a more normal, peaceful and stable life," he said.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said about 8,800 irregular immigrants arrived in Malta between 2002 and 2007. During the same time, 5,856 people applied for asylum, 193 were given refugee status, 2,625 were granted humanitarian protection and 2,278 were rejected.

He pointed out that, according to a UNHCR report published in 2006, Malta ranked second in the world in the number of asylum applications received per 1,000 inhabitants.

"We have done this as we have carried the huge logistical and financial burden of housing and providing essential services to these thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and irregular immigrants."

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said a local policy document published in 2005 extensively addressed integration and placed it on the agenda of the national strategy, and inclusion was one of the government's policy objectives.