Only three cases of racism were filed before the equality watchdog last year, highlighting a situation of under-reporting for reasons that include lack of awareness and “a degree of fear”, according to a UNHCR spokesman.
Figures obtained from the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, on occasion of the European Action Week Against Racism, showed that three complaints were lodged on the basis of race last year.
One case related to “access to a service” while another concerned “access to accommodation”. Both cases were closed and no evidence of discrimination was found. The third complaint involved racist comments and was referred to the police, according to an NCPE spokeswoman.
In one of the worst incidents reported in the study, a property owner told the Maltese girlfriend of an African man that he did not rent to “animals, blacks and Arabs”.
The 2010 research focused on racial discrimination and religious discrimination. The reasons for not reporting included a sense of powerlessness, a lack of faith in the system – essentially that a report would not effect change – fear of exposure, a sense of embarrassment, and finally, that they were not aware of the possibility to report.
On March 15, it emerged that African migrants were hired by Floriana street vendors to stand in the queue, come rain or shine, to obtain a permit.
A few days later General Workers’ Union general secretary Tony Zarb acknowledged that migrants were underpaid adding that they did not take their case to the union.
“The sector should definitely be regulated – for instance, many migrants have no insurance cover in case they are injured. The problem is that they do not approach us to report any breaches,” he said.
2,080 applications for asylum
Malta had the highest number of asylum applications in the EU last year in relation to the island’s population, figures released yesterday show.
Last year there were 332,000 asylum applications registered in the EU, Eurostat figures showed.
The largest number of applications were registered in Germany (77,500 applications) followed by France (60,600), Sweden (43,900) and the UK (28,000).
Last year, 2,080 applications were registered in Malta. Although the number is much lower than applications made in other countries, Malta – which has a population of just over 400,000 – had the highest rate of applications per capita, calculated at 5,000 applicants per million inhabitants.
The majority of Maltese applicants, 60 per cent, were from Somalia while 21 per cent were from Eritrea and seven per cent from Syria. Figures showed that 73 per cent of the first instance decisions made in the EU were rejections.
In the case of Malta, there were 1,590 first instant decisions, 155 of which were rejections.