The UN’s refugee agency has reacted with understanding to Malta’s unwillingness to host any sub-Saharan refugees evacuated to Egypt and Tunisia Libya.
The UNHCR had launched an appeal on behalf of thousands of Eritrean and Somali refugees, among others, who have fled the conflict in the embattled North African state but are unable to return home where they would be persecuted.
The European Commission responded by trying to lobby member states to accept resettling some of these migrants but the Maltese government has made it clear it would not be part of such an effort.
“At this stage, I think we are already carrying a much bigger burden than we can handle in terms of refugees and asylum seekers and so we won’t be making any offers,” Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.
However, the UNHCR, which had its fair share of diplomatic disputes with the Maltese government over immigration, told The Sunday Times that while all contributions were welcome it “would not expect that Malta would be among the main resettlement destinations for these refugees”.
“Some 1,000 refugees have in recent years benefited from such programmes. The UNHCR considers that this support can provide opportunities for Malta to make further progress with improving the situation also for those who remain in the country,” a spokesman for the agency said.
Malta hosts around 3,700 African migrants (79 in detention, 2,224 in open centres and 1,400 in the community) according to official statistics released in November – a far cry from over 10,000 immigrants who were estimated to be in Malta in 2008.
However, the government is bracing itself for a possible exodus from Libya once the situation there settles down.
Yesterday, the Armed Forces were monitoring a vessel reportedly carrying 300 migrants believed to have left Tripoli on Friday.
Asked if Malta should take a symbolic number of migrants evacuated from Libya, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said: “The EU has already made its position on the matter clear when it pledged its support to the southern member states during an extraordinary European Council held on March 11.
“At present Malta is hosting around 4,000 African immigrants while at the same time having by far the highest rate of asylum applications in the EU.
“Malta will continue to provide assistance to these people while keeping its size, limited resources and small population in sight. Malta has already proven that it assists and offers protection to those in need,” he said.
Earlier this month, about 100 members of the Eritrean community in Malta held a demonstration in Valletta calling on the island and the international community to help evacuate asylum seekers stranded in Libya.
They said the Eritreans could not return to their country because they would be prosecuted and as they were not part of the international evacuation effort, they were stranded without protection in Libya.
Some were in danger of being shot, being mistaken for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s mercenaries, they added.
The Jesuit Refugee Service had also appealed to the EU and the international community to take immediate and concrete action to provide resettlement opportunities for some the Eritrean asylum seekers stranded in Libya.
When contacted, JRS laid stress on the need for northern Europe to help the south, but urged Malta to give special consideration to refugees whose close family members have already been granted international protection here.
“While the Libyan crisis, unfolding so close to Malta, is bound to make additional demands on our structures and resources, the international community and EU member states in particular clearly share the moral obligation to come forward with offers of resettlement for refugees reaching Malta and other southern European states who receive a disproportionate numbers of asylum seekers in relation to their resources,” the JRS said.