A 25-year-old migrant from Senegal had to receive treatment at Mount Carmel hospital for the mental health problems he suffered during eight months in detention, he told the Social Affairs Committee on Monday.

He said the experience made him “feel bad” and thought of killing himself because no one was standing up for him. He said he came here for protection but found himself in detention, without his family.

He was one of several migrants from different countries who shared their experiences with the committee’s members who are preparing a report based on an assessment of detention and open centre facilities.

The experiences of the individuals who addressed the committee varied according to the length of time they spent in detention – the longer the time, the more negative the experience. Yet their impression of the Maltese people was a positive one nevertheless.

Hussein Do, 17, from Mali, arrived in Malta last year and spent a month in detention.

I came here for protection but found myself in detention

He said his problem was that he had not been issued local documents. He goes to the (former) Lyceum in Ħamrun to learn English and Maltese and he said he was making friends.

A major problem migrants raised was the difficulty they had to find work and sustain themselves. Even those who attended training courses to improve their knowledge of languages and skills found it hard to make a living or integrate.

And those who did have a work permit made little progress as well. A Somali migrant said he reached Malta six months ago and was in detention for two months until he was moved to the open centre. He said he had a work permit and presented his CV to employers but no one called him even though he was open to all kinds of work including cleaning.

In the meantime, he said, he was learning ICT and English.

Committee members visited the facilities last year and they are now hearing the views of those who lived through the experience. “It is a balancing act. We wanted the picture from both ends,” said Labour Party MP Deborah Schembri.

She said those who attended the social affairs committee meeting were from the open centre.

The committee also wanted to hear the views of people in detention but they had not been sent, although it would happen on another occasion.

The committee also heard the views of the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Jon Hoisaeter, who warned that Malta would need to prepare for a potential upsurge in migrant departures from Libya as the situation there deteriorated. He said talks about the evolving scenario were being held at various levels with the Home Affairs Ministry but there was no comprehensive discussion on any contingency plan to address different possibilities.

Malta, he said, had already done a great deal, acknowledging the work by the AFM which rescued 14,000 migrants at sea.

The UNHCR, he said, acknowledged security concerns and there were circumstances that merited detention, but then facilities had to be of the required standard.

He said UNHCR agreed the Dublin II Treaty was not good in facilitating solidarity between states.

There was space within that framework for states to agree on a shared mechanism but this was done only to a small degree.