Twenty beneficiaries of international protection from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan left Malta this morning to start a new life in The Netherlands.
This exercise was financed by the Dutch authorities.
The 20 migrants, made up of five single adults and five families, were identified by the Dutch authorities following a selection mission to Malta last year. A number of cultural orientation sessions for the beneficiaries were conducted by the Dutch Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in Malta during the last two months, to assist migrants in their preparations to settle in their new host society.
Officials will in the coming months assist the beneficiaries to integrate in their society.
The Netherlands is conducting this relocation following the commitment made at the Ministerial pledging conference organised by the European Commission in May 2011 for Member States and Associated countries to assist countries receiving large numbers of asylum seekers.
Other European countries have also committed to relocate beneficiaries of international protection from Malta, in the context of the extension of the EUREMA pilot project, or on a bilateral basis. These include Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland. Relocation exercises to Germany and Ireland took place last year, while those for Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have been initiated or even concluded during the past months.
The migrants were seen off by the Parliamentary Assistant within the Ministry for Home Affairs, Beppe Fenech Adami, who thanked the Dutch government for taking part in this project. He said that to date 234 persons who were granted asylum in Malta have been relocated to other EU Members States and Associated countries within the framework of the extension of the EUREMA project. A further 227 persons had been relocated in 2010 when EUREMA was launched.
“Malta remains the only EU country which benefits from an intra-EU reallocation project for persons arriving on its shores. This is a feather in the cap of the government and successive Ministers for Home Affairs who persevered in bringing immigration to the fore in the agenda of the European Union institutions and introduced the concept of solidarity in this sector,” Dr Fenech Adami said.
The Dutch ambassador Robbert Gabriëlse, was also present at the airport.