Tag: migration

  • FATTI: Is Malta “full-up”?

    FATTI: Is Malta “full-up”?

    “Malta is full-up.”

    You’ve heard it before: at the dinner table, on the street, or from politicians across the spectrum.

    It’s a bipartisan refrain, invoked by figures from both of Malta’s major parties, each wielding it to serve different agendas, be it economic strategy, asylum policy, public service pressures, infrastructure strain, or concerns over public safety.

    The latest to join the chorus is Nationalist Party (PN) MP Ivan Castillo, who wrote on Facebook:

    “Everyone knows it, although few have the courage to say it. (…) Malta is full-up. (…)  Overpopulation is the main problem. ”

    But does perception match reality? Our latest FATTI explores the narrative.

    Castillo, who called for using more AI and automation instead of foreign workers, is not the first or last politician to claim that Malta is “full-up”.

    In 2020, both Prime Minister Robert Abela and then-PN Leader and current leadership candidate Adrian Delia employed the “full up” narrative. 

    “Let’s have a common policy on regular immigration. Its central theme must be that our country is full up. […] This message must come, not just from the government, but from the government, the opposition, and civil society… our country is full up. Our country cannot handle more immigration,” Abela said at the time, about the arrival of asylum seekers.

    “The position regarding the arrivals of boat immigrants, that is, irregular immigrants, must remain one that Malta is full up,” he said another time.

    This year, in a consultation document on labour migration, Abela admitted that before the framework was developed, the labour migration market had been “unregulated”.

    Prime Minister Robert Abela

    Delia, meanwhile, said: “We are full, we have no space, our open centres are packed, overcrowded. […] This situation was brought about by this government. “Why? Because for six years it has been importing people with open doors: ‘come, come, come, we need people’.”

    Alex Borg, who is competing with Delia to become the next PN leader, recently said in a televised debate, “We do have a problem with the number [of foreigners], because the current government does not invest in infrastructure”, implying that people would not be complaining about population growth if infrastructure were adequate.

    Malta is the most densely populated EU country, leaving the runner-up, the Netherlands, far behind.

    Various indicators indicate an increasing demand for new resources and infrastructure in Malta, driven by population growth.

    The latest census (2021) showed that the population had grown by more than 100,000 over the past decade, while the foreign population had increased fivefold since 2011 and now surpassed 20%.

    Between 2022 and 2023 alone, Malta‘s population increased by 4%, or 21,564 new residents.

    Do asylum seekers and refugees play a role?

    This year, almost 0.2% of asylum seekers arriving in Europe via Mediterranean routes ended up in Malta.

    In 2023, the UNHCR reported that 11,412 refugees resided in Malta, alongside 2,005 asylum seekers, compared to a Maltese citizen population of almost 405,000 and a foreign population of around 148,000.

    This means that people with pending asylum cases or granted protection are around 9% of foreigners in Malta.

    If we add the 738 rejected asylum seekers still living in Malta (data until March 2023), the migrants arriving via the asylum route are around 10% of the foreigners in Malta. 

    Asylum seekers, refugees, TCNs – what’s the difference?

    Third-country nationals (TCNs) are non-EU nationals who do not have free movement rights in the EU – this includes Brits but not Norwegians, because Norway is a member of the European Economic Area, where free movement of workers applies. 

    Asylum seekers are non-EU nationals who have asked for protection and their cases are being processed;

    Refugees are those who were forced to flee their country and cannot return.

    The claims that Malta was under disproportionate pressure from asylum seekers may have rung true in between 2011 and 2013, when Malta was No. 1 in the EU in terms of asylum seekers per population.

    After years of hovering around four asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants, the number increased to 8.14 in 2019, making Malta the second-highest in the EU after Cyprus.

    By 2023, Malta was no longer among the top 10 EU countries in terms of asylum applications per capita. Other small countries, notably Cyprus, Luxembourg and Estonia, processed more asylum claims per 1,000 inhabitants than Malta.

    Under 200 lived in government-maintained open centres in 2024 – down from 1,621 in 2019. Only 701 applications for asylum were lodged, while there are 1,497 pending cases.

    Labour migrants come through different channels. 

    In an interview with The Malta Independent in 2018, Clyde Caruana, then chairman of JobsPlus, stated that JobsPlus was pursuing the employment of third-country nationals to sustain Malta’s economic growth and its pension system.

    “If the economy continues to grow, we will have to import foreigners, no questions asked. If we don’t, the economy will grow at a smaller rate,” he said.

    When the pandemic began and many non-EU workers reportedly repatriated, then-Finance Minister Edward Scicluna told the press:

    “When the private sector began to grow and could not find local workers, then naturally they began searching in Europe for workers,” he was quoted as saying to the Malta Independent.

    By 2021, the Malta Chamber of Commerce called on the government to reform taxation in a way that “attracts, not detracts, foreigners from working in Malta” and to launch “an international marketing campaign showcasing Malta as a career destination”.

    Specific key sectors attract foreign (EU and non-EU workers) to Malta.

    The latest Eurostat data show that there were 34,000 workers from other EU countries and 97,000 workers from non-EU countries.

    According to the latest report by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), there were 7,554 non-Maltese workers in online activities licensed by MGA and 422 in casinos in 2024 – nearly three-quarters of all workers in both cases.

    Almost 10,000 non-EU workers were employed in the hospitality and ancillary sectors in 2022.

    Other factors, including traffic and tourism, also contribute to the pressure on infrastructure and services, with the government’s plan to bring in up to 4.5 million tourists in 2035 already raising concerns.

    In 2023:

    • Tourists spent 20 million nights, at points bringing an average of nearly 56 thousand additional users of infrastructure and services on any given day.
    • 6,863 EU citizens and 33,120 third-country nationals moved to Malta, while 5,952 EU citizens and 13,560 third-country nationals moved out, increasing to 911 EU and 19,560 non-EU citizens.
    • There were more vehicles than Maltese citizens (although fewer than total residents) on the islands – nearly 439 thousand vehicles in total.

    In 2023, for every thousand Maltese citizens shared space and infrastructure with:

    • 101 tourists,
    • 267 resident foreign citizens, 
    • among them, 21 refugees,
    • Only four asylum seekers.

    Inbound tourists in 2024 amounted to 3,563,618, while total nights surpassed 22.9 million – a 19.5% increase compared to 2023. 

    Malta being “full-up” will always be a matter of perception. However, the causes behind Malta’s overpopulation issues are clear – and have little to do with men, women and children seeking asylum in the country.

    Malta’s high population density may contribute to the feeling that the country is ‘full-up’ and its resources are stretched.

    However, it is not sharing the limited space and resources with refugees and asylum seekers that creates a strain: a Maltese resident shares them with four times as many tourists and 11 times as many immigrants who came to Malta for other reasons.

    Instead, it is a longstanding policy to import legal foreign labour and supercharge the tourism sector and the national econom,y which is significantly contributing to the population growth in the country. 

    Malta was seeing increases in asylum applications in 2018-2019 and, for a time, topped the EU list of countries with a high rate of asylum seekers. Five years later, none of the urgency (understandable at the time) is justified.

    Today, the claim that Malta is full-up with refugees and asylum seekers is false – and it’s the narratives surrounding economic growth built on population growth, whether that’s employment or tourism, that need to be challenged.

    This project is supported by the European Media and Information Fund. The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the authors and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.

  • Logged Pushbacks to Libya from Malta’s SAR Zone Triple Since 2020, Over 5,000 People Forced Back

    Logged Pushbacks to Libya from Malta’s SAR Zone Triple Since 2020, Over 5,000 People Forced Back

    By Joanna Demarco and Sabrina Zammit
    • Over 5000 people have been pushed back to Libya since 2020
    • Distress calls have quadrupled from 136 in 2020 to 589 in 2023
    • Almost 80 boats pushed back to Libya since 2020
    • Malta’s policy, led by Alex Dalli in Libya, includes ‘specialised training’ in ‘sniping’, ‘storming’, among others, an analysis by Amphora reveals

    Pushbacks from Malta’s Search and Rescue (SAR) Zone have tripled since 2020, with over 5,000 people documented to have been pulled back by Libyan actors, new data shining a light on activities shrouded in secrecy for the first time, and seen by Amphora Media, reveals.

    The data collected from numerous civil fleets and NGOs such as Alarm Phone and the Civil Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (CMRCC) Search and Rescue Archive, between 2020 and 2024, collated into a database focused on Malta’s SAR zone by the Malta Migration Archive, sheds light on activities for which the government’s lack of transparency has frequently been criticised.

    The data also reveals that over the five years, documented distress calls from boats in Malta’s Search and Rescue Zone carrying migrants at sea have increased significantly: from 136 in 2020 to 589 in 2023 and 554 in 2024.

    However, despite this boom, the data shows that rescues by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) to the documented distress calls declined dramatically over the same period.

    Additionally, the stark incline in pushbacks coincides with a change in Malta’s political arrangements in the region and the tenure of Malta’s Special Envoy to Libya, Alexander Dalli. Dalli, Malta’s former prison director, who was found to run a prison that allegedly  degraded inmates and faced allegations of fear-mongering and racism, was given the role of special envoy in December 2021, soon after stepping down from his role as prison chief amid following the third reported inmate suicide that year.

    Pushbacks Increase Significantly

    An analysis of the data by Amphora Media shows that over 5,100 people in a total of 79 boats were recorded as having been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard while in Malta’s Search and Rescue Zone between 2020 and 2024.

    Returning migrants to Libya has been declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights, due to the lack of safety, violence, danger and severe human rights violations in the country.

    The archived data shows that pushbacks, which are described by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights as actions that ‘involve the summary return of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants by states without the observance of the necessary human rights safeguards’ have been on a steady increase since 2020. With:

    • 7 pushbacks recorded in 2020
    • 12 in 2021
    • 19 in 2022
    • 20 in 2023
    • 23 in 2024
    Number of logged pushbacks by year. Source: Malta Migration Archive

    A count of the number of people on each boat that was intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard shows that 5,114 people have been returned to Libya in that timeframe.

    While a total of 383 were recorded on the boats in 2020, 1065 were recorded in 2024. 2023 registered the highest number of people, with 1940.

    In 2023, four boats were pushed back with an exceptionally high number of people on each: 500 in one, 300 each in two others, and 250 in a fourth.

    Number of boats pushed back per year by case, including how many people were on each boat. Source: Malta Migration Archive.

    The archive uses the term ‘so-called Libyan Coast Guard’ to question the functionality, legality and legitimacy of  “the various bodies and militias in Libya involved in pushbacks, including the EU’s partner, the Libyan Coast Guard associated with the Tripoli Government of National Unity, and the Tariq Ben Zayed Brigade, a militia within Haftar’s Libyan National Army in Eastern Libya.”

    In 2023, the UN Fact Finding Mission on Libya noted that ‘high-ranking staff of the Libyan Coast Guard… colluded with traffickers and smugglers, which are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants.’

    AFM Rescues Decline

    Source: DOI

    As the documented pushbacks increased, data collected by the archive also shows that rescues of the boats in distress by the Armed Forces of Malta moved in the opposite direction.

    The archive documents:

    • 21 boat rescues in response to distress calls in 2020
    • 8 in 2021
    • 4 in 2022
    • 5 in 2023
    • 2 in 2024  
    Number of logged distress calls and rescues by the Armed Forces of Malta, by year. Source: Malta Migration Archive

    Official figures published by United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) corroborate this downward trend. The number of persons arriving to Malta by boat shrinks significantly with every passing year:

    • 2,281 in 2020
    • 832 in 2021
    • 444 in 2022
    • 380 in 2023
    • 238 in 2024
    Number of boat arrivals to Malta every year. Source: UNHCR Malta


    Abandoned at Sea

    ​​Documentation of distress calls tracked by civil fleets and collated by the Malta Migration Archive depicts how, over the years, people have been left adrift in Malta’s SAR zone, ignored by authorities, abandoned by passing ships, or pushed back to Libya.

    Under international law—and reinforced by EU legal principles—Malta is obliged to promptly respond to distress calls in its SAR zone.

    These duties are codified in conventions such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, which require states to ensure that assistance is rendered without delay or discrimination to persons in distress at sea.”

    For example, on 22nd February 2023, 34 people on a fibreglass boat without life jackets, food, or water called Alarm Phone for help. According to Alarm Phone, Malta took no action. The next day, some people reportedly died on board. Although several merchant ships and a Frontex plane were nearby, it was a boat assumed to belong to the Italian Coast Guard, not Malta’s army, that finally rescued the survivors.

    This was not an isolated case. On 9th April 2023, Alarm Phone reported how Malta instructed merchant vessels to not carry out a rescue on a vessel with some 400 people in distress.

    After two days drifting, they were reportedly finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, Frontex and merchant ships. 

    On 23rd May of the same year, 500 people, including five children and pregnant women, were reportedly left adrift for over a day. The NGO reported relatives of the people on board claiming that the vessel in distress had been intercepted by a Libyan militia and forcibly dragged back to the port of Benghazi in Libya. Indeed, after their vessel disappeared in Malta’s search and rescue zone the 500 people reappeared in a prison in Benghazi.

    Similar patterns occurred in 2020 to 2022, when Sea-Watch and Alarm Phone documented repeated failures to respond to distress calls. 

    In July 2021, Malta reportedly ordered an oil tanker not to rescue people, even after spotting individuals in the water. Reportedly, three people died. In another, the Libyan Coast Guard carried out an interception in Malta’s zone while Frontex drones circled above, suggesting Frontex’s involvement.

    The documentation also shows how when the AFM do intervene, it can take over 18 or even 48 hours after distress alerts.

    Special Envoy to Libya

    Alexander Dalli (right) with the Libya Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs Major General Mahmoud Saeed . Source: Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs, Facebook.

    In 2020, Malta and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding announcing the creation of coordination centres in Valletta and Tripoli to “liaise between the two capitals and offer the necessary support relating to combating illegal immigration in Libya and the Mediterranean region.”

    The document also states the intention for Malta to request financial support from the European Commission for providing border control technologies, dismantling human trafficking networks, curtailing organised crime operations, maritime assets, and more, within the search and rescue region in the Mediterranean Basin.

    Then, at the end of 2021, despite numerous media and NGO reports on suicides and human rights abuses inside the Corradino prison facility, Dalli, a former Frontex-seconded national expert, resigned from his position as prison director in disgrace and, was soon given the role of Malta’s Special Envoy to Libya focusing on “combatting illegal migration”, where he is obliged to coordinate on matters listed in the 2020 agreement.

    In January this year, Malta’s Ombudsman published a damning report corroborating the reports following his “own initiative” probe into the Corradino facility under Dalli’s tenure. In the investigation, interviewees spoke about how Dalli was running a so-called “factory of evil”– described as such by one witness – where numerous instances of violence, human rights abuses and inhumane treatment were found.

    Besides the description mentioned in the MOU, Dalli’s role and day-to-day tasks in Libya have not been disclosed.

    However, Prime Minister Robert Abela has publicly boasted to reporters about Malta’s decreasing number of boat arrivals. In February, defending Dalli following the Ombudsman’s report, Abela told reporters that Dalli is “performing miracles towards controlling irregular immigration.”

    “Malta “is winning the fight against irregular migration,” he said.

    Dalli’s ‘Specialised Training’ Sessions in Libya

    Alexander Dalli (front right) at a meeting with Libya’s General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior. Source: General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior of the State of Libya, Facebook.

    Despite an information blackout surrounding Dalli’s role, and questions to the Home Affairs Ministry about the role that have gone unanswered, an open source investigation by Amphora Media has found more information about what Malta’s Special Envoy is up to.

    An analysis of social media posts by Libya’s Interiors Ministry and the ‘General Administration of Training at the Ministry of Interior of the State of Libya’ show that, in 2022 and 2023, Dalli has been involved in numerous ‘specialised training’ programmes in Libya, including a training on ‘sniping’.

    In a Facebook post from August 2023, Dalli is quoted as being present at a meeting with Libyan officials “to discuss the training course programme scheduled to be held in the field of security field work (storming, landing, sniping).  

    In fact, specialised training programmes are mentioned in at least three separate instances in meetings between Dalli and Libyan officials. In June 2023, Dalli met officials together with Colonel Etienne Scicluna, where the two discussed “specialised courses… in the field of training for the rehabilitation and sharpening of the security and police personnel of the Ministry of Interior and benefiting from the experiences of the Maltese side in this regard.”

    In another meeting with the spokesperson of the Libyan Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs, Major General Mahmoud Saeed in October 2022, Dalli discussed how to “put necessary measures to limit the flow” of illegal migration.

    Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robert Abela has continued to highlight the decrease in the number of migrant vessel arrivals to Malta – describing Malta’s situation as a ‘success’ thanks to ‘government policy’.

    The Home Affairs Ministry did not respond to Amphora Media’s questions that arose from the findings mentioned in this article.