This is the speech delivered by Neil, our Director, at the vigil for assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16 August 2021.
The full video of the 3 speeches may be found at this link or watched below.
We thank Occupy Justice, Repubblika and Manwel Delia for organising the vigils and inviting us to deliver this speech.
On the 24th September, the Platform on Disaster Displacement, Caritas France, Act Alliance, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) as well as Caritas Internationalis hosted an event ancillary to the 45th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, in a bid to stimulate and encourage discussion with governmental authorities and civil society with regards to the way forward when tackling disasters, climate change and environmental degradation in terms of human mobility. The primary question considered was: How are states required to react in order to ensure that the human rights of migrating individuals are protected accordingly?
Continue ReadingOn 12 November, I was in Brussels to attend the 9th EASO Consultative Forum Plenary Meeting. This meeting is a gathering of NGO representatives from all Europe, stakeholders from Member States, European Union officials (EASO and European Commission) and the United Nations (UNHCR).
This year’s Forum was focused on the initial steps in the asylum procedure and the aim was to exchange knowledge from different types of stakeholders.
We heard different panel discussions from experts stressing key considerations, with the opportunity to present questions on issues we’re all facing in our work. Civil society, Member States and European institutions officials had a chance to express their views and hear each other.
Final recommendations from the different workshops focused on outreach and information, registration, and channelling of applicants with special needs.
This gathering is a great opportunity for everyone to learn more, exchange and get inspired in order to do a more appropriate and fairer work. I sincerely thank EASO for supporting my participation at this meeting!
At the end of August (28-29), I attended a workshop on hate crime organised by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
ODIHR provides support, assistance and expertise to participating States and civil society to promote democracy, rule of law, human rights and tolerance and non-discrimination. It observes elections, reviews legislation and advises governments on how to develop and sustain democratic institutions. The Office also conducts training programmes for government and law-enforcement officials and non-governmental organizations on how to uphold, promote and monitor human rights.
The aim of the workshop was to familiarise civil society organisations with the concept of hate crime, especially in the context of migration, and introduce ODIHR’s work on reporting and addressing hate crimes in Europe.
This workshop was important for us all at aditus foundation, since we are searching for betters ways to support our beneficiaries when they are victims of hate crimes. In particular we are extremely concerned that, whilst we do know of hate crimes occurring in Malta, reporting levels remain extremely low…almost at level zero. My participation was funded by UNHCR Malta, for which aditus foundation is extremely grateful.
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On Friday evening and Saturday morning, Neil (our Director) delivered legal training to integration educators, engaged by the University of Malta to deliver cultural orientation classes to migrants and refugees.
Following Government’s adoption of Integration=Belonging: Migrant Integration Strategy and Action Plan, the Integration Unit within the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality has been making steady progress towards implementation of the country’s integration agenda.
In particular, free classes in English and Maltese have already started, as part of Stage 1 of a migrant’s integration path. Stage 1 also includes basic cultural and societal orientation, and a record+assessment of qualifications, trade and work experiences.
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