The memoirs of former Refugees Commissioner Charles Buttigieg have been collected in a book.The memoirs of former Refugees Commissioner Charles Buttigieg have been collected in a book.

Twenty years ago, the person who would become Malta’s first Refugee Commissioner had already been promoting the concept today known as burden sharing.

It emerges from the memoirs of Charles Buttigieg, which have been collected in a book, Ir-Refuġjati f’Ħajti (The refugees in my life).

He had been appointed Refugees Commissioner in October 2001. By the time he left in June 2007, the office had received and evaluated 4,858 applications for refugee status. They arrived from 45 nationalities.

A total of 192 applicants were accepted as refugees and 2,200 were given humanitarian protection. The applications refused numbered 2,150 and 143 were withdrawn.

A former editor of the defunct Church daily Il-Ħajja (Life) and a former PRO of the Church in Malta, Mr Buttigieg joined the Emigrants’ Commission as a volunteer in 1987 and was appointed general secretary and chairman of the refugees section the year after. It was in that capacity that he had been asked in 1993 to give his thoughts for a book published in Toronto and titled Refugee Rights: Report on a Comparative Study.

The migrant was instructed to go up Mellieħa hill and ask for the train station

His view was that nobody could expect small countries to shoulder burdens they could not carry, particularly with regard to lasting solutions vis-à-vis refugees. More specifically, he felt Malta could not take risks that were beyond it.

“My emphasis in that direction were particularly prompted by the experience of hundreds of Iraqi refugees who arrived in Malta in the first part of the 1990s and by the fact that there were already waves of people arriving in Malta on boats from the African continent or the Middle East,” Mr Buttigieg writes in the book.

He speaks on the ups and downs of working among refugees, including receiving threats. One death threat in particular worried him so much that he even informed a trusted journalist friend about it just in case something happened to him.

Mr Buttigieg recounts his frustration when a Labour MP alleged in Parliament in late May 2004 that he, as Refugees Commissioner, had acted in an amateurish way and had misguided the Home Affairs Minister with regard to the repatriation of a number of Eritreans.

Although he insisted that the allegations were completely unfounded, he still offered his resignation, which was refused.

The book includes a number of both sad and charming anecdotes.

A migrant recounted that he had paid handsomely to leave his country and escape the regime. He was brought to Malta on a ship and then taken to Mellieħa Bay by dinghy. Once there, he was instructed by the people that organised the trip to go up the hill and ask for the train station. He walked to Mellieħa, saw a coffee shop, went inside and asked to be directed to the train station. The patrons of course smiled and wondered who he was. The migrant soon told them his story.

She had used the clothes line to take her own life

A 51-year-old Iraqi woman arrived in Malta in October 1992 with many others. She did not qualify for UNHCR protection but the Emigrants’ Commission wanted to help her relocate in America, Canada or Australia.

In the meantime, she lived on her own in Valletta. One day, almost four-and-a-half years after her arrival, friends went to knock on her door, which was not locked, so they went inside and were shocked by the scene that met them. She had used the clothes line to take her own life.

A young man from a Middle East country indicated on his arrival that he was dumb. He applied for international protection but Mr Buttigieg felt he did not qualify and wrote a letter in that sense. As per practice, he sent the letter to the immigration police who would, in turn, informed the applicant accordingly. A senior police officer called Mr Buttigieg: “Your signature can make miracles... When he saw your letter bearing the negative reply, he spoke. He told us that once he failed to acquire refugee status, he would return home.”

Rebels raided the house of a woman while her husband, a government employee, was at work. They burnt her hand and raped her. The rebels killed her husband – who had arrived home by that time – and her son, but she managed to escape together with her daughter.

The woman eventually realised she was pregnant as a result of the rape.

“I kept and loved the baby as I wanted to forget what had happened. I told myself that the baby was mine. The baby was not to blame. The baby is the only good that remains in my life.”

The book will be available from today for €12 from Dar l-Emigrant, Castile Place, Valletta. The author will be signing copies of the book between 9am and noon.

On Sunday, the book will be sold for the same price between 10am and noon at the Bon Pastur Refugee Centre, Balzan.

From Monday, the book will be available from Dar l-Emigrant for €15. Those who want to reserve a copy should send an e-mail on cb.refugeebook@gmail.com. Proceeds from the sale of the book, launched yesterday, will be in aid of the Emigrant’s Commission’s refugees fund.

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