EU increases Malta’s migrant fund by €1.2m

An additional €1.2 million in emergency funding has been approved by the European Commission to improve the living conditions of asylum seekers and refugees.

The money will be used to help in the provision of food, enhanced security and safety as well as to improve the overall care offered to asylum seekers.

The European Refugee Fund had already allocated €1.4 million to Malta to help in skills profiling, language training and support services.

The approval of the additional funds under the emergency measures together with the annual programme allocation brings the total allocation for 2011 for Malta under the European Refugee Fund to €2.6 million.

Meanwhile, 13 people from Somalia and Eritrea (eight single adults and two couples, one with a child) left yesterday to start a new life in the US, under its Refugee Resettlement Programme.

This latest departure brings to 824 the number total of beneficiaries of international protection who were resettled to the US from Malta since 2007.

In all 1,411 refugees and beneficiaries of international protection have been reallocated to various other developed countries since 2005.

The migrants were seen off by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici accompanied by embassy officials and representatives of the International Organisation of Migration.

“This is a prime example of charity in action,” he said.