New projects for 2021!

We’re happy to present the list of new projects we’ll be working on this year. These projects cover a broad range of issues…from statelessness to sex work from child detention to undocumented migrants…pretty much reflecting the needs we’ve identified in several sectors. Many of these initiatives will commence this year and flow into 2022. They join the projects we started last year, with the entire list giving you an idea of how busy we are but also of the human rights issues Malta still needs to address.

Contrary to what most people think, a long list of projects is not necessarily a good thing. Whilst it does mean that we’re able to address several human rights concerns, it also means that our work runs the risk of being fragmented and boxed within the constraints of specific projects: timelines, ear-marked budgets, constant reporting.

Human rights advocacy, by definition, is very difficult to squeeze into a finite project. Goals are generally long-term, targets not always reached and activities usually involve meeting stakeholders, initiating dialogue and other ‘soft’ elements that are hard to measure, evaluate and report on. Yet of course we count ourselves lucky that we have access to project funds to carry out our work, and thank all funding entities for these opportunities.

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Project Alert | How do we identify stateless persons in asylum scenarios?

We have just started work on a new project: Identification Tool for Statelessness in Asylum. Our efforts will seek to create a working tool allowing us – and our partners – to identify stateless persons in Malta’s asylum scenario.

Although there is no comprehensive and updated research on number of stateless persons in Malta, it is clear that a high percentage is present with asylum-seeking of refugee communities. These would be people who have either been stripped of their nationality due to, for example, ethnic conflicts or partition of states. Otherwise, they could be people who are not recognised by the state they deem to be their own because they might have lived their entire lives outside that country, in a refugee camp in a neighbouring state.

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2021 dreams for the aditus team!

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hi All! I hope you are all doing great! 

We all can say, “what a year 2020 has been!” For sure, it’s going to be a year that all of us will remember! It was a year like no other. As the year was coming to an end, here at aditus we met to think about what happened during the year in office and also at our homes. We also shared our hopes for what we wish to see happening during 2021. These are the 2021 dreams for the aditus team!  

aditus team Christmas 2020
Neil, Matthew, Claire, Kasia, Rimaz and Carla @ our Xmas breakfast (2020).

2021 is going to be a very  special and fruitful year for our Team: our 10th anniversary! We are all planning to celebrate and organise several activities…of course all depending on the current pandemic situation. 

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Interview with Richmond Foundation: impact of Covid-19 on mental health

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hey all! I hope everyone is staying safe and preparing for the winter! On 10 September we celebrated Mental Health Day, so this week I am sharing an interview about the impact of Covid-19 on mental health.

At aditus foundation, we saw a lot of our clients being seriously affected from this pandemic due to their vulnerabilities. We also had clients who, like most of us, found it hard to cope with quarantine and isolation.  As stated in this article, the UN Refugee Agency is warning that Covid-19  is having a huge impact on the mental health of refugees, displaced and stateless people. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said:

COVID-19 is not just a physical health crisis but it is now also triggering a mental health crisis. While many refugees and internally displaced people are remarkably resilient and are able to move forward despite having experienced violence or persecution first-hand, their capacities to cope are now being stretched to the limit.

UNHCR

For this week’s blogpost, I interviewed Richmond Foundation. Richmond Foundation is one of Malta’s more prominent NGOs with whom we have an excellent working relationship. We’ve listed it as a supporting organisation for refugees and migrant ssince the organisation often provides them with needed psychological support. As stated on its website, Richmond Foundation offers a wide range of support to anyone experiencing mental health problems and to the people who live and work with them.

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My experience as a Human Rights Intern with aditus foundation

#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

It’s November already and 2020 is almost over, so is my internship.  I still remember sending my CV and being interviewed by aditus back in February of this year.  The feeling of excitement accompanied by concern that I had regarding whether they will let me in the aditus family and accept me as a human rights intern. Also, whether they would see me suitable for such an internship. Lucky Rimaz, they did, and here I am reaching the end of this amazing full-of-experience as a Human Rights Intern with aditus foundation!

I still remember the first week of the internship: it’s called reading week, where I read about aditus’ previous and current projects. It was in that week where I realized that I am in the right place for human rights. I remember facing challenges in understanding some projects, but that was the aim behind reading week: to read, observe and ask whenever in doubt. Also, by reading up about previous projects, I have built up an idea on how aditus works and the type of projects that I feel keen on being involved in, if possible.

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