There are several safeguards in Malta’s asylum system to ensure that those who are denied refugee status really do not merit asylum, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has insisted.  

He was speaking following a Times of Malta interview with Yosuf Ahmed Adam, one of several Ethiopian migrants who have been detained since August and told they will be deported to their home country as they cannot be granted refugee status. 

Adam, who has lived in Malta for 13 years, told Times of Malta that returning him to Ethiopia in a region plagued by conflict could mean he would be killed or imprisoned.   

Camilleri said the procedures followed by the International Protection Agency, including an appeals process and recourse to the courts, ensured that genuine refugees were not deported.  

“The decision on refugee status is based on whether one would have left a country because of war or other factors - such as being gay or following a religion that will lead to consequences,” Camilleri said.  

And once the agency takes its decision, it is subject to an appeal and the courts, he said.  

Anyone who qualifies as a refugee will be helped, Camilleri said, but anyone who does not should be sent back. Not doing so would encourage more people to make the perilous crossing across the Mediterranean, the home affairs minister said. 

“Should we have policies that incentivise irregular sea crossings via smugglers that lead to a large proportion of deaths? Should we have policies that turn the Mediterranean into more of a cemetery?” he asked.  

Ensuring that people who did not qualify as refugees were returned meant that fewer people crossed the Mediterranean and there were fewer deaths.  

He stressed that this was a policy followed across Europe and home affairs ministers of the 27 EU member states were constantly pushing the European Commission to focus more on irregular migration returns.  

This group of Ethiopians are being returned to their country through an EU initiative, Camilleri said.  

Over 900 asylum seekers have been returned to their country in the last four years after their asylum applications were rejected.  

Some returned voluntarily, and others were forced to do so, he added. 

Asked about Adam’s case, in the context that he had learnt Maltese and contributed to the labour market for 13 years, Camilleri said it was not a shortcoming of the state when a long time elapsed before migrants were returned.

When a person refused to cooperate and return voluntarily, there were delays from some countries for the forced repatriation,” Camilleri said.  

“The fact that you did not cooperate, in my opinion, should not lead to other decisions,” he said.  

Camilleri said that the Ethiopians have been kept in detention since August because of court proceedings from their end.  

“They can leave tomorrow if they want to, but because there are proceedings in court, there is some delay. Everything revolves around cooperation; you can keep forcing delays, but eventually, there will be the same decision”.  

‘Asylum proceedings should not take this long’- Darren Carabott 

Home Affairs shadow minister Darren Carabott said asylum proceedings should not take this long.  

"We stand firm with the fact that the law is clear on who is to be granted international protection, and those laws must be enforced - our country needs to show that our laws are respected and no one is at liberty to enter our country illegally,” he said.

“However, the law also states that asylum applicants should be granted a decision in a 'reasonable' time, both during the initial proceedings with the protection agency but also in the subsequent appeals. The latter part - the 'reasonable' time for adjudication is where the government is falling short". 

The government had to ensure an expedited process and not allow asylum proceedings to take 13 years, Carabott said.  

“Due to the government's failure to ensure such an efficient process, it has created a victim status,” Carabott said when reacting to Adams’s situation.