Aditus said in a statement this evening it was concerned that the amendments to the Citizenship Act reinforced the negative message Malta insisted on sending the migrant and refugee communities living in Malta.

"The new scheme further emphasises the unworthiness of migrants and refugees who, for years, have been contributing to Maltese society in several ways by paying taxes and social security contributions, being employed in Maltese companies, establishing their own business ventures, engaging in social activities with Maltese people and generally doing their utmost to integrate into what is, ultimately, an extremely challenging environment for them to integrate in.

"By exclusively emphasising financial contributions of migrants, the Government directly informs all these migrants and refugees that Malta is not and will probably never be a place they can call home."

The human rights organisation said it was concerned at the lack of procedural transparency in the application and review process, and the potential lack of procedural guarantees.Malta's citizenship legislation was already based on blatant arbitrariness, with full discretion in the hands of the Home Affairs Minister and no effective remedies available to migrants whose citizenship applications were rejected."We feel that placing this new procedure in the hands of a private company merely further emphasizes this absence of transparency and accountability.

"Furthermore, in view of the fact that Malta has consistently refused to sign and ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, we are concerned at statements relating to the withdrawal of legitimately granted citizenship as such actions, especially where politically-motivated and outside any objective legal regime, could lead to individuals and families being stateless, lacking the protection of any state," it said.