Between Death and Life, by Johnny Abo, Malta: 31/7/2008 - Deutsche Press Association
Between Death and Life: Malta is a connection point for a wider world
Valetta – Malta: 31/7/2008
By Johnny Abo
"I had nothing else to do but to take the risk of sailing on a tiny boat, that might take me to a safe shore, or let the chance go, and I become like many others who dreamed of reaching the other shore and instead became food for the fish."
Thus Othman, a Somali immigrant, summarized his problem, while he is detained in an immigration detention center on the island of Malta, which has started to consider new plans to address the challenges of the increasing number of immigrants who land on the island from neighboring countries.
"The people who took us on the boat," Othman said, "charged us between $600 and $900 per person, saying they will take us to a safer and more secured world that will ensure a better future, full of joy, freedom and success."
"My existence here in the detention center for more than a year has turned me into a frustrated, trivial man," Othman, who is over forty and is still single, said.
"The world has stopped around me; nothing changes, and I can't tell day from night; for me they are equal," he added.
But Colonel Brian, the Head of three detention centers for immigrants, said that illegal immigrant stay in closed centers for six months only, and are moved after that to open centers, where they can walk out.
He added that Malta cannot alone stand against the illegal immigration, unless the EU provides logistic assistance.
"The EU," he said cuffs us with the humanitarian laws but there is not enough support."
Malta has joined the EU in 2004.
Still, immigrant finds it better and safer here in Malta than their countries.
"There are difficulties here," Ahmad, a Sudanese immigrant, says, "but still we are in a safer place than our countries, where civil war ground everybody, and make us see that the world here may hold a light of hope one day in the future."
There is a big argument among Maltese people regarding illegal immigration. People are divided between those who ask for more humane attitude towards the immigrants and those who ask to deal with the issue before it becomes out of control.
Minister for the Interior and Justice told DPA that "No sooner the government builds anew campus than it needs a bigger one to build in no time."
"The government's job," he added, "cannot be restricted to building new campuses for illegal immigrants."
There are three closed centers and ten open one on the island for the time being.
Libya is the major exporter for illegal immigrants to Malta, which depends basically on tourism. Most of those who finish their mandatory stay at the centers work in this field, or in the construction sector.
Centers have also women who sit at the doors of their rooms, with a number of children next to them. This is described by officials as "dangerous."
Although illegal immigrants say their conditions here are bad, they ask to marry, and those who are married have lots of children because this gives them more sympathy, for having children with them, according to a Maltese official.
Fatima, a mother of four children including a six-month old and who came to Malta five years ago, says that their four children has given my unemployed husband and me a kind of sympathy, whether from the Maltese people or from the international organizations."
Next to Fatima were a line of ladies, well-built, covered in cloth, trying to soothe down their babies or looking for a pastime.
Jamila, a lady from Eritrea, says she had come here to go after that to a better world in Canada, America or Australia.
"We came here," she said, "risking our lives and those of our kids, because relying on the unknown future in our country does not deserve to stay there. Now there is hope to obtain a foreign citizenship to our children, a key for a better life for a wider world."
Valetta – Malta: 31/7/2008
By Johnny Abo
"I had nothing else to do but to take the risk of sailing on a tiny boat, that might take me to a safe shore, or let the chance go, and I become like many others who dreamed of reaching the other shore and instead became food for the fish."
Thus Othman, a Somali immigrant, summarized his problem, while he is detained in an immigration detention center on the island of Malta, which has started to consider new plans to address the challenges of the increasing number of immigrants who land on the island from neighboring countries.
"The people who took us on the boat," Othman said, "charged us between $600 and $900 per person, saying they will take us to a safer and more secured world that will ensure a better future, full of joy, freedom and success."
"My existence here in the detention center for more than a year has turned me into a frustrated, trivial man," Othman, who is over forty and is still single, said.
"The world has stopped around me; nothing changes, and I can't tell day from night; for me they are equal," he added.
But Colonel Brian, the Head of three detention centers for immigrants, said that illegal immigrant stay in closed centers for six months only, and are moved after that to open centers, where they can walk out.
He added that Malta cannot alone stand against the illegal immigration, unless the EU provides logistic assistance.
"The EU," he said cuffs us with the humanitarian laws but there is not enough support."
Malta has joined the EU in 2004.
Still, immigrant finds it better and safer here in Malta than their countries.
"There are difficulties here," Ahmad, a Sudanese immigrant, says, "but still we are in a safer place than our countries, where civil war ground everybody, and make us see that the world here may hold a light of hope one day in the future."
There is a big argument among Maltese people regarding illegal immigration. People are divided between those who ask for more humane attitude towards the immigrants and those who ask to deal with the issue before it becomes out of control.
Minister for the Interior and Justice told DPA that "No sooner the government builds anew campus than it needs a bigger one to build in no time."
"The government's job," he added, "cannot be restricted to building new campuses for illegal immigrants."
There are three closed centers and ten open one on the island for the time being.
Libya is the major exporter for illegal immigrants to Malta, which depends basically on tourism. Most of those who finish their mandatory stay at the centers work in this field, or in the construction sector.
Centers have also women who sit at the doors of their rooms, with a number of children next to them. This is described by officials as "dangerous."
Although illegal immigrants say their conditions here are bad, they ask to marry, and those who are married have lots of children because this gives them more sympathy, for having children with them, according to a Maltese official.
Fatima, a mother of four children including a six-month old and who came to Malta five years ago, says that their four children has given my unemployed husband and me a kind of sympathy, whether from the Maltese people or from the international organizations."
Next to Fatima were a line of ladies, well-built, covered in cloth, trying to soothe down their babies or looking for a pastime.
Jamila, a lady from Eritrea, says she had come here to go after that to a better world in Canada, America or Australia.
"We came here," she said, "risking our lives and those of our kids, because relying on the unknown future in our country does not deserve to stay there. Now there is hope to obtain a foreign citizenship to our children, a key for a better life for a wider world."
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