92 migrants on their way to France
"We do not want to be alone" - Ambassador
A group of 92 immigrants enjoying international protection left Malta this morning in search of a new life in France.
They were seen off at the airport by the French Ambassador, who said this was France's response to Malta's appeal for burden sharing, but France "does not want to be alone." He said France was interested in taking another group next year but wanted to pull the other EU countries into the initiative.
The 74 adults, five children and 13 infants from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Côte d'Ivoire and Sri Lanka will be resettled in three towns in the north of the country.
They will initially reside in reception centres for a maximum of six months and the French Officefor Immigration and Integration (OFII) will also help them integrate through language and cultural orientation training.
This pilot relocation project is in response to the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum agreed in October last year.
This project has been implemented jointly by the International Organisation for Migration's offices in both Paris and Malta, as well as the French and Maltese authorities, local NGOs and other organisations working in the field of migration. IOM Malta has been responsible for the delivery of cultural orientation and arrangements related to the departure, including medical examination.
The migrants had been in Malta for an average of four years. They expressed their gratitude for Malta's assistance but said they wanted to move on because France was a bigger country offering them greater opportunities.