Aditus and Integra foundation and JRS Malta today urged Malta to participate in the UNHCR’s resettlement efforts by agreeing to resettle refugees directly from Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey.

In a statement, they expressed solidarity with Jordan and refugees living at the Al Za’atari Refugee Camp, visited by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday.

Al Za’atari Refugee Camp hosts around 80,000 refugees, making it more than double the size of Gozo’s population. Some 30 per cent are children.

Given the drawn out war in Syria, and the pitiful number of resettlement places
made available, some of these refugees would certainly remain warehoused,
will limited access to basic human rights and needs.

"We are confident that his (the Prime Minister's) interactions with the men, women and children living in Al Za’atari will sensitise him to their desperate need to have their human dignity restored.

"We also welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to continue urging the European Union to provide further assistance to Jordan and Lebanon. Yet we also note that Malta has decided not to participate in the European Union’s resettlement agreement with Turkey."

They urged Malta to participate in the UNHCR’s resettlement efforts by agreeing to resettle refugees directly from Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey.

"This would restore the refugees’ hopes of a future of safety, dignity and respect.

"Providing safe and legal ways to reach a place of safety is the most effective way to prevent refugees from resorting to unsafe and irregular means of travel to access Europe, thereby saving lives.

"It would also be Malta’s firm message to the European Union, and to the international community, that the current response to the refugee crisis is unacceptable and requires immediate revision."