An appeal to the authorities to allow children born to mothers given subsidiary protection in Malta to get to know and enjoy their fathers was made on Tuesday by Mgr Philip Calleja, from the Emigrants’ Commission.

Mgr Calleja referred to the case of an Eritrean woman who escaped her country and left for Sudan, where she me a young man, also from Eritrea, who she married.

The couple had planned to save money to go to Libya and cross the Mediterranean to enter Europe, but as the woman got pregnant, the man gave the woman all he had and persuaded her to leave for Europe on her own and he would join her when he saved enough money.

While crossing the Mediterranean and when the boat she was on was close to Malta, the woman showed signs that she was close to giving birth so she was brought to Malta where her son Noah was born.

After leaving hospital she was given shelter at the Dar tal-Bon Pastur in Balzan, which is managed by the Emigrants’ Commission.

The boy is now a year-and-a-half and still does not know his father. His mother is worried because she has to constantly take him to hospital where he has to be assisted to breath. His father wished to meet his son.

Two people, Mgr Calleja said, had offered to help the father reunite with his wife and son. The only thing that remained pending was a permit for the father to come to Malta.