Malta has received a number of requests from Ukrainians for asylum in the light of the current situation in the Eastern European country, where anti-government protests have been followed by political upheaval and international crisis.
Giving evidence before the House Social Affairs Committee on Monday, Refugees Commissioner Mario Friggieri said applications for asylum were determined within less than three months of application in spite of the fact that Malta had eight or nine times the number of applicants when compared to the EU average. The recognition rate in Malta for asylum seekers is over 80 per cent.
To house the detainees in adequately resourced open centres, a building 20 times the size of the Jesuit retreat house at Mount St Joseph would be necessary.
Mr Friggieri said there were different approaches to asylum-seeking between those who arrived by boat and were sent immediately to detention and migrants who arrived by other means.
He said the best practice for detainees was the delivery of information sessions in 11 different languages which gave them an overview of their rights and the avenues open to them. Cultural mediators were used to help draw out the new arrivals from their understandable reticence.
Between 65 and 70 per cent of asylum seekers were out of detention by six months
During the first quarter this year, over 1,500 requests were processed and once a decision was taken, this could be appealed both by the government and by the applicant.
Outlining areas of improvement, Mr Friggieri said the situation was very dynamic. The applications arising from people from Somalia, Eritrea and Syria raised the recognition rate of requests for asylum. This increased the need for training of staff both to process the applications and to aid in the enculturation of those accepted.
The committee’s expert on detention policy, John St John, said the EU directive on detention services would come into force in the middle of next year. The main issues that arose were the justification of detention and whether sufficient efforts were carried out to repatriate the irregular immigrants. He said the current detention policy was not detailed as to what services could be offered in detention.
Mr St John said that while the centres had been built ad hoc, these have slowly evolved to cater for the needs of the immigrants. Eventually, when a proper centre was built, this would offer better services and give the authorities more flexibility in the approaches used.
While Malta has a relatively long period of detention on paper, the asylum claims were processed swiftly and many did not last so long in detention. He said that between 65 and 70 per cent of asylum seekers were out of detention by six months.
Replying to questions by the committee members, Mr St John said the idleness of the detainees did not help to diffuse the situation, and this was the greatest shortcoming of the whole situation.
Some attempts at integration courses were initiated but the take -up was poor and the attempt fizzled out. There was also access to psychological and mainstream health services.