Director

Our Director’s blogpost for the European Network on Statelessness

“In 2015 award-winning Greg Constantine visited Malta as part of his photographic journey around Europe, documenting the lives of detained stateless persons.

He spent much of his time with our client and friend, Alexander: a young man from Sierra Leone who, having entered Malta in an irregular manner, was detained for over one year under a regime that has since been repeatedly found by the European Court of Human Rights to be arbitrary and illegal.

When Sierra Leone’s consular representatives insisted Alexander was not Sierra Leonian, he became stateless. With no formal legal status, he had no documents, no rights, no identity and no place to call home.”

You can read Neil’s full post here.

Report: How European countries can stop people without nationality being locked up in limbo

A report published today (4 May) by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) on the use of immigration detention warns that stateless people are often detained for months and even years, without any real prospect of their cases being resolved.

This is because immigration systems do not have appropriate procedures in place to identify those who are left without nationality and to protect stateless people.

The report calls on European governments to reform their immigration and detention systems to comply with their international human rights obligations and end the arbitrary detention of stateless people.

States need to put in place procedures to identify people without nationality so that they don’t end up locked up in limbo.

Chris Nash, Director of the European Network on Statelessness said:

“Across Europe a failure by states to put in place effective systems to identify stateless people leaves them exposed to repeated and prolonged detention.

These men, women and children fall between the cracks, because no country will recognise them as nationals.

This is preventable, and today we are publishing a clear agenda for change which will help end this travesty.”

Angela Li Rosi, Deputy Director of UNHCR Bureau for Europe said:

“Stateless persons across Europe risk serious violations of their right to liberty and security of person.

They can face repeated and prolonged detention not because they committed a crime but because they are not allowed to stay in the country.

They are told they don’t belong anywhere. Their children are invisible, their families do not exist. UNHCR will continue to work with ENS to support States in ending this human suffering in Europe.”

A statement signed by civil society organisations and leading lawyers and academics from over 30 European countries will be sent to governments highlighting that consensus is building in Europe that the current use of immigration detention is unsustainable, harmful, and, in many cases, unlawful.

CASE STUDIES

“The documents I do have tell me I’m of ‘unknown nationality’. Officially I still don’t exist”

Angela is an ethnic Armenian from Azerbaijan. She fled to the Netherlands seeking asylum with her family in her early teens, but they were refused protection. Countless efforts to obtain new travel documents failed and both Armenia and Azerbaijan refused to facilitate their return. Angela was detained in 2012 during an attempt to forcibly remove her family, which had a huge emotional impact on her. A court ruled her detention unlawful and suspended forced return, but this did not end her limbo.

“Why did they hold me for seven years and gave me nothing?”

Anton is a stateless person from the former Soviet Union who was held in immigration detention in Bulgaria from 2005 to 2012. During this time, he was told he would be forcibly removed, but was never given any details about how and when. Anton remained in detention for seven years because the only alternative to detention in Bulgarian law could not be applied as he had no registered address. He was finally released after an intervention by the UN and now lives as an undocumented migrant.

“Detention made my mental health worse. It started when I got into detention. There they do not care if you cry.”

Muhammed is a Sahrawi in his late thirties who came to the UK as a minor. He was refused asylum and has been detained several times for a total of nearly four of the last eighteen years. His statelessness application was refused because he has a past criminal offence. Muhammed suffers from mental health issues. In 2015-2016, he spent fifteen months in detention despite the authorities accepting that he was Sahrawi and therefore had no prospects of removal.

“Immigration detention is far far worse than prison because there is no time limit.”

Okeke is in his thirties and has always lived in the UK. He was probably born there although he has no birth certificate. He believes that his parents are British but he lost contact with them as a teenager after fleeing years of domestic abuse. Okeke has faced a life of destitution and isolation due to his lack of documents and the abuse he suffered as a child. After a criminal conviction for theft, he was sent to immigration detention subject to a deportation order. Despite being classified as a person of ‘unknown nationality’, the UK attempted to deport him to Nigeria on the basis that he has a Nigerian name.

MEDIA CONTACT

For media enquiries please call ENS Head of Communications Jan Brulc on 07522 525673 or email jan.brulc@statelessness.eu

NOTES TO EDITORS

The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance with over 100 members in 40 countries. It is committed to ending statelessness and ensuring that the estimated 600,000 people living in Europe without a nationality are protected under international law.
ENS has prepared a statement signed by over 65 civil society organisations, academic and leading legal experts working on the issue. The statement will be sent to government representatives and other main stakeholders across Europe to highlight the agenda for change on how to solve the issue of arbitrary detention.
ENS is undertaking a 3 year project aimed at better understanding the extent and consequences of the detention of stateless persons in Europe, and advocating for an end to arbitrary detention of stateless people.
New report “Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: An Agenda for Change” will be available on the ENS website from 4 May onwards http://www.statelessness.eu/resources/protecting-stateless-persons-arbitrary-detention-agenda-change For embargoed copy please email brulc@statelessness.eu
The report launch will take place in Budapest on 4 May as part of a two day pan-regional conference, with contributions by UNHCR Europe Bureau deputy director Angela Li Rosi, Member of the European Parliament Jean Lambert, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Manlio di Stefano and award-winning photographer Greg Constantine. Full agenda available online statelessness.eu/news-events/news/conference-registration-protecting-stateless-persons-arbitrary-detention-4-5-may

Tools for identifying the needs of refugees survivors of torture

It is generally estimated that between 5 and 35% of asylum seekers are torture survivors.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorders can range from 20-40%, while depression rates can vary from 30-70% of refugee population.

In our work with refugees we often come across persons who have gone through terrible experiences, either at home or along their escape journey: torture, detention, rape, and other forms of physical or psychological violence. These harrowing experiences exacerbate the pain felt by refugees as they are forced to abandon their homes, at times leaving behind families, friends, histories and so much more.

Arriving and settling in their new homes then requires them to invest all their energies into reconstructing their lives within a personal and social context that is not always welcoming or friendly. Refugees suffering from trauma, or otherwise unable to access rehabilitation support, often struggle to start this reconstruction process, being unable to find or hold work or perform other tasks we would think basic and straightforward.

It is for this reason that the early identification of survivors of torture or other forms of violence – including sexual or psychological violence – is crucial to ensuring provision of effective and immediate support. This will help restore dignity to their lives, and allow for a smoother integration process.

At aditus foundation we don’t provide psychological, medical or psycho-social support to refugees. Instead, we refer to specialised services (including those provided by other NGOs), and ensure that our clients’ conditions are not an obstacle to their enjoyment of their fundamental human rights.

Specifically, we work with our clients to ensure they are able to recount their experiences during the asylum interview, and that the asylum process takes due account of their histories. We also support them as they try to obtain their documents, find work and start making Malta home.

Being an NGO focusing on advocating for better human rights laws and policies, we prioritise the need for Malta to establish procedures that identify refugee survivors of torture of violence, with a view towards directing them to the appropriate support services.

In the project Time for Needs, led by the REFUGEES, we are working with colleagues from Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany and France to produce a set of materials to be used by States to identify the needs of refugees who have suffered such experiences.

What particular legal needs do they have? What form of accommodation structures are appropriate? How accessible are support services?

These aren’t easy questions to answer, but through discussions with our partners we are trying to inform a common European approach to their handling

The Time for Needs project will lead us to have discussions with Maltese stakeholders such as the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum-Seekers, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, on how best they can fulfil their legal obligations to identify and provide for the special needs of refugees survivors of torture and extreme violence.

The project is co-financed by the European Union.

Discussing good practices during the Time for Needs workshop in Rome (March 2017).

What tools can we work with to improve the identification of needs?

Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation in support of our work with refugees & migrants

We’re incredibly happy to announce that Project Integrated will be receiving support from the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation, allowing us to extend our activities through till December 2018!

This was confirmed on 18 March during a ceremony held at San Anton Palace, where the President of Malta emphasised that this year’s MCCFF aims are to support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project, implemented with JRS Malta and Integra Foundation, provides integration support to refugees as well as migrants at risk of social exclusion.

We’re extremely grateful to the MCCFF for its constant support of our efforts, and for its commitment towards seeking to improve the lives of vulnerable or marginalised communities.

An NGO coalition campaigning for a decent minimum wage

The Campaign for a Decent Minimum Wage, which we are fully supporting, believes that workers are entitled to receive decent wages for their work, which is currently not the case. Thus, a raise in the minimum wage is about more justice to workers, and not solely workers on a minimum wage.

Such an increase will create pressure for a raise in other low wages, meaning that more workers will start receiving a decent wage.

In the coming months the Campaign will be visiting several localities and workplaces around Malta to explain and discuss our proposal for an increase in the minimum wage. The initiative was launched in Valletta on 11 March.

Il-proposta ewlenija li qed tiġi mressqa mill-Kampanja Paga Minima Diċenti hi li l-paga minima tiżdied bi 11%, imqassma fuq tliet snin (3.5% fis-sena), minbarra ż-żieda tal-COLA.

Aħna nemmnu bis-sħiħ li tiżdied il-paga minima hija att ta’ ġustizzja soċjali li se twassal għal distribuzzjoni iktar ġusta tal-ġid u r-riżorsi.

Huwa dritt bażiku tal-ħaddiema li jitħallsu paga diċenti għall-ħidma tagħhom. Din iż-żieda toħloq ukoll pressjoni sabiex pagi baxxi oħra jogħlew bl-istess ammont, u b’hekk iktar ħaddiema jkollhom paga diċenti.

Several organisations and individuals are involved in the Campaign for a Decent Minimum Wage. The organisations participating in the Campaign are:

aditus foundation, Alleanza Kontra l-Faqar, Caritas, Forum Bormliż, Integra Foundation, Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust, Malta Humanist Association, Malta Microfinance, Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl, Millennium Chapel, Moviment Graffitti, Paulo Freire Institute, Peace Lab, The Critical Institute, Third World Group and Żminijietna – Voice of the Left.

Follow the Campaign’s Facebook page for updates!