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Sweden orders return of 550 immigrants to Malta

Sweden has ordered the return of some 550 immigrants to Malta in just over two years, statistics obtained by The Sunday Times show.

In 2008, Sweden decided to transfer 179 illegal immigrants, a figure that shot up to 315 the following year. In the first two months of this year, 49 people were told to leave the Scandinavian country.

However, to date only 179 immigrants have actually been transferred according to the Swedish migration office. It is not clear why some 370 immigrants who were ordered to leave have not yet reached Malta, though sources said the majority probably managed to evade the clutches of the immigration authorities.

In 2009 alone, it is estimated that 450 migrants were returned to Malta from EU member states. The majority are being sent back from Scandinavian countries, according to sources.

Sweden is facing harsh criticism from international organisations Save the Children and the Red Cross because child refugees are among those deported.

The organisations accused the Swedish migration board of sending back refugees to "dangerous and unhealthy" conditions in detention centres in Malta.

The head of the Jesuit Refugee Service, Fr Joseph Cassar, expressed "shock" at the Swedish government's actions.

Migrants in Malta who are granted refugee status or subsidiary protection are entitled to a travel document which allows them to apply for a visa and travel. Although they are supposed to return to Malta, the government does not to keep track of the number of people who fail to return.

Sources told The Sunday Times the actual number of illegal immigrants in Malta is likely to be much lower than official figures suggest, as hundreds leave and never return.

But if they are caught in another member state the migrants are returned to Malta under the Dublin Regulation, which allocates responsibility for examining an asylum application to the EU member state that the migrant first entered. Each EU country is obliged to take back its applicants who are irregularly in another member state.

Currently, those being transferred under the Dublin Regulation are not always able to access an asylum procedure. This puts people at risk of being returned to persecution.

But the strain on Malta was acknowledged by Bill Frelick, director of refugee policy at Human Rights Watch, who said Italy, Greece and Malta had an unfair burden for examining asylum claims for Europe under the Dublin Regulation.

"The solution lies in amending the rules so that EU states will share the burden equitably," Mr Frelick said.

According to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles and the UN Refugee Agency the system fails to provide fair, efficient and effective protection.

There are also a number of cases in which the European Court of Human Rights has, under its rule 39, instructed governments not to carry out Dublin transfers.

In one case, the court issued interim measures halting transfers from Finland to Italy and Malta (one each); both were women, the former a minor, and the latter with a five-month-old child.

The Dublin Regulation has come under criticism from the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament - last April it unanimously voted in favour of suspending the EU's Dublin Regulation in the case of countries which are facing disproportionate migratory pressure.

A comprehensive report, commissioned by the same committee and made public last January, confirmed that Malta had "the lowest capacity" to deal with the problem based on the size of its economy, its population size and density. The report also concluded that EU initiatives to alleviate the burden had little or no impact on the country.

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Joseph Attard

Mar 23rd 2010, 13:55

Maltese living abroad pay taxes to the countries hosting them. Legal is fine, Illegal not. It's not a question of skin colour or country of origin. It is Legality against Illegality. Ideally we find jobs which can sustain these poor souls. In turn they will be sustaining us with their taxes and their involvement in the economy.

T.gauci

Mar 23rd 2010, 15:55

Yeah right if you support immigration, you can kiss Catholic Malta goodbye.

Peter Korsten

Mar 22nd 2010, 15:06

Yeah, but that's immigration. What about freedom of press and individual freedom, non-corruption, fiscal and financial policy, where the northern European countries are the highest ranking in the world? Would you like the freedoms you have in northern Africa, or the financial affairs of Greece or Israel?

Brian Farrugia

Mar 22nd 2010, 22:27

What a load of twaddle.
England has more no go areas than Iraq and has a divided society like no other.
Once the greatest of countries it is now reduced to a violent, no hope cess pit.

Robert Scullion

Mar 21st 2010, 19:46

"If OBAMA gets his way on this Health care bill today.all care will be rationed in the long run,just like Britton"

I'm guessing you mean Britain ... plus the UK spends 8.4% of GDP covering 100% of its citizens while the US spends 16% to not cover all its people. Like here in Malta, the belief is to help other people when they are ill, not ask them if they can afford to live or not.

Source OECD / WHO via http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8160058.stm

lgalea

Mar 21st 2010, 21:48

Il-Konvenzjoni dwar ir-Refugjati nistghu nohorgu minnha meta rridu u jekk tindahal l-ue nistghu nibghatuha tixxejjer ghax kollha qed juru li hadd minnhom ma jrid immigranti illegali. Mela ghalfejn ghandna nitwikkew bihom ahna meta kienu l-pajjizi ta l-europe specjalment il-pajjizi kolonjalisti tal-ue li redghulhom demmhom? Jibilghuhom huma mhux ahna.

Joe Fenech

Mar 21st 2010, 17:19

Learning from history (and others) is something the Maltese are unable to do!

J Bugeja

Mar 21st 2010, 19:08

You are perfectly right. We shall only vote for those who declare that they will expel all foreign workers and illegal immigrants.

Alfred Cassar

Mar 21st 2010, 20:38

Pat your comments are almost always so pathetically against our dear Prime Minister. Do you have some personal grudge against him?

lgalea

Mar 21st 2010, 21:54

Did not Pat speak the truth?
Why is Gonzi not expelling ALL illegal immigrants back to their own countries?
Where are his strong pair of hands?
He only used his hand in a strong manner with Maltese citizens, but he treats the eu foreigners and illegal immigrants with velvet gloves at our expense.

J Bugeja

Mar 21st 2010, 15:45

I wholeheartedly agree with you. This should be made the top issue in the electoral manifesto of political parties if they expect our votes. Otherwise, my vote will be framed for politicians to see during their home visits.

Zap Branagan

Mar 21st 2010, 16:48

"send back all the money leeches "

Should this also be applied to all the Maltese who went to Australia, the UK and Canada in search of a better life? Should they be sent back to their poorer home country? Should they be vilified in those countries?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

J Bugeja

Mar 21st 2010, 19:06

Zap, the Maltese who went to Australia and other countries went there because those country wanted immigrants because they didn't have enough locals to do the work they had, they went there legally, were examined healthwise and technically and were never leeches like the illegal immigrants and other immigrants who are coming here robbing Maltese workers from their jobs. All foreign workers should be expelled.

Joseph Attard

Mar 23rd 2010, 13:51

B' l- istess argument tieghek, qisek qed tghid li Malta n-nies huma kollha laburisti jew kollha nazzjonalisti!

lgalea

Mar 21st 2010, 15:41

One single illegal immigrant is one too many and is a burden that we should not and must not shoulder. Even legal immigrants should be limited and immigration stopped as we are the smallest most over-populated country in Europe and nearly so in the world. So why should we continue to allow immigration whether legal and especially more so illegal when we do not have enough of anything for ourselves and any amount of immigration will decrease what we have including work to support our families?

lgalea

Mar 21st 2010, 15:46

It is better known as the SCHENĠENN agreement

lgalea

Mar 21st 2010, 13:25

No Maltese status Callejja. Our citizenship is not for sale. None of them is worthy of our citizenship and none of them have anything to do with Malta or have Maltese lineage. They must all be expelled and sent back to their own countries and Malta must get out of the refugee convention.

Chris Ebejer

Mar 21st 2010, 15:00

Thumbs up !
Let our government to learn a lesson from Sweeden.

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