Malta must give answers on Loujin’s death

Malta Refugee Council demands and official inquiry into the death of a young girl At the end of August, Loujin, a four-year old Syrian girl, boarded a wooden fishing vessel on Lebanon’s coast with her mother and one year old sister, Mira, and set out across the sea with over sixty other people from Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. Running out of basic provisions and taking on water, they began sending out distress signals on 2 September, 2022. Those distress signals read more

Save lives at sea

At the end of August, Loujin, a four-year old Syrian girl, boarded a wooden fishing vessel on Lebanon’s coast with her mother and one year old sister, Mira, and set out across the sea with over sixty other people from Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. Running out of basic provisions and taking on water, they began sending out distress signals on 2 September, 2022. Those distress signals were immediately relayed to the Maltese authorities. For days, the Maltese Authorities ignored the read more

#Safe4All: LGBTIQ+ refugees deserve protection

On 10 September we launched the #Safe4All Legal Initiative. The #Safe4 All Legal Initiative is a campaign urging Malta to better protect LGBTIQ+ refugees. It asks Malta to stop declaring as ‘safe’ those countries that currently criminalise LGBTIQ+ identities and/or behaviour. The campaign, including a Bill to amend Malta’s asylum legislation, was presented to the Equality Parliament Secretary. It will be maintained throughout the coming months as Malta seeks to crown its rainbow glory by hosting EuroPride Valletta 2023. Visit read more

Pride but not much Protection!

The story of two LGBTIQ+ clients: Ali & Ashraf Facts Ali and Ashraf* are two vulnerable LGBTIQ+ individuals, who faced sexual violence in their countries of origin as well as during their journey to Europe. They were referred to us by their social workers and doctors who they grew to trust over the course of a few months. Both Ali and Ashraf came from what are deemed to be “safe countries“** of origin. On arrival in Malta they applied for read more

The European Commission’s Proposed Model Law on Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) – How Far Does It Go?

Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are commonly identified as abusive lawsuits that are used as a particular form of harassment used primarily against journalists and human rights defenders. SLAPPs can be manifestly unfounded claims, or they could also present other forms of abuse, where the claim is not unfounded but there is an exaggerated use of legal procedures or other aspects of the legal system to harass and deter the person being litigated against. The assasination of Daphne Caruana read more