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JRS Malta -
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Political
Developments
There were no substantial political
developments in 2007. The number of arrivals remained
stable at around 1,700, slightly less than last year,
while there was no change in the legislation governing
migration and in the policy of mandatory detention of
all who arrive in boats. No further transposition of EU
directives into local legislation took place, so that
the Qualification Directive is still not transposed.
This year has also seen the appearance of a new
political party, Azzjoni Nazzjonali AN, on the right of
the political spectrum, with a clearly anti-immigrant
stance among its main policies.
The highlight this year was undoubtedly the Nansen Award
by UNHCR to Katrine Camilleri, the head of the legal and
advocacy team, and the main driving force and
inspiration at JRS Malta. This was seen as recognition
of the validity of the work and methods used by JRS
Malta under Katrine’s inspiration.
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JRS Activities
Detention
JRS Malta continues to focus on detention, offering legal,
social work and pastoral services. The team provided legal
information regarding rights and procedures to all new arrivals,
and more in depth legal assistance mostly to vulnerable cases so
that they can obtain their release more speedily. According to
present Maltese policy vulnerable persons are not detained. The
office is available for all those who wish to use it to receive
or send identity papers and other documents as they prepare to
present their case for asylum. In all this, the role of the
social worker is central: when JRS staff identify vulnerable
cases, the social worker refers them to the government agency
and follows up the case for a speedy release. This year the
social worker was ably helped by a nurse who has been seconded
from government service for one year to work with JRS.
Advocacy
JRS Malta was the lead agency in the delivery of an EU funded
project documenting the detention conditions in the 10 new
Member States of the European Union. Meetings were held in
Brussels and in Malta to plan the work, draw up questionnaires
and guidelines for research to be carried out in the single
states. Each country prepared a national report, and these,
together with the regional report, were presented at a
conference held in Malta in October 2007.
JRS Malta participated in various meetings with other
stakeholders, especially other NGOs present in the field and
with government officials. One very important development was
the filing of a court case by a detainee who claimed that his
detention and the conditions in the detention centre were in
breach of Malta’s human rights obligations.
Social Assistance
The Sexual and Gender Based Violence project, financed by UNHCR,
increased JRS Malta’s work with migrants, both outside and
inside the detention centres. With the help of two cultural
mediators and a psychologist, JRS Malta was able to communicate
with women from different cultures and learn about their
traumatic experiences. A small medical mission from Medecins du
Monde cooperated with JRS Malta for a few months in 2007. They
were able to share their expertise in this area. This project
also helped to develop a successful health education and
promotion programme which was offered in the closed and the open
centres with the help of UNHCR and other NGOs.
Awareness Raising
In 2007 JRS Malta was able to expand its work in this area
through the ‘We are all equal’ EU funded project. JRS Malta
visited more than 40 schools and community centres and organised
a number of public theatrical performances including two public
theatrical performances by Natasha Marjanovic, a Bosnian actress
living in Portugal about her experience of being a migrant, and
a walk though theatre portraying the journey of an African
family. These performances were watched by 500 students, who
also had the opportunity to view and discuss a 30 minute DVD
about racism and discrimination.
Pastoral
A small
group of Jesuits regularly celebrated mass on Sundays for the
Christian detainees; the highlight was a series of nine masses
organised on Christmas Day by eight Jesuit priests.
The Jesuit General Superior, Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, visited
the Safi detention centre on 7 October 2007, during his visit to
Malta.
Contact Details
Fr Paul Pace (Acting Country
Director)
Dr Katrine Camilleri LLD (Assistant Director)
SAC Sports Complex
50, Triq ix-Xorrox
B'Kara BKR 12
Malta
tel: +356-21-44 27 51
fax: +356-21-44 27 52
To send an email, just replace the (a) with @.
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