Sixty babies were born to migrant mothers housed in open centres in 2008, including four sets of twins.

Contrary to popular belief, children born in Malta to immigrants do not automatically qualify for citizenship.

Pregnant women who arrive as illegal immigrants are transferred to open centres, once medically cleared, instead of being kept in detention, whether or not they have already been granted refugee or humanitarian status.

A Home Affairs Ministry spokesman confirmed that children born to illegal immigrants, even to mothers who have since been recognised as refugees, are not entitled to automatic Maltese citizenship. For citizenship to be granted to a child, one of the parents has to be Maltese.

Neil Falzon, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malta, says the situation is not the same in most European countries.

The 1951 Refugees Convention strongly recommends that governments with refugees in their territory should look into the possibility of granting citizenship to refugees to give them a more permanent status.

Citizenship was one of the strongest steps towards proper integration as refugees would then have rights and obligations as a citizen of a specific country, Dr Falzon said.

In Malta, refugees can be granted citizenship after living on the island for 10 years and only after applying and going through all background checks. At the end of last year, a boatload of irregular immigrants arrived carrying 10 women who claimed to be pregnant but only three of them were in fact expectant mothers, it was later established.

Pregnant women, along with unaccompanied mothers and children, are treated as vulnerable people. Women may claim to be pregnant in order to be given precedence over other illegal immigrants.