Non-English speaking migrants at Malta’s open centres are being told to sign an agreement relating to reception conditions in English when they first enter, even though they might have no idea what the document contains.
This practice goes against the spirit of a law which obliged the authorities to provide information in writing a language they are meant to understand, according to Katrine Camilleri, director of the Jesuit Refugee Society.
This obligation applies not only to information about the asylum procedure, but also to information about rights, entitlements and reception conditions.
Last month, dozens of migrants residing at Ħal Far tent village woke up to find out they had 30 days to find alternative accommodation.
A spokesperson for the Home Affairs Ministry confirmed this was standard procedure, as open centres were offered to those migrants in need of accommodation for nine to 12 months.
This information is communicated to migrants by verbal translation of a ‘service provision agreement’ that all migrants are given to sign in English at the beginning of their stay at the tent village.
I didn’t know I could only stay here for one year
However, most migrants that were given the termination notice told Times of Malta in frustration they could not read the English document and were not given a copy in their own language.
“When we first came here we were given a lot of papers to sign but we don’t know what they mean. I wasn’t given the document in French. I didn’t know I could only stay here for one year,” an Ivorian migrant, Diabate Mohammed, said with the help of a translator.
The Reception Directive (the EU law regulating reception of asylum seekers) obliges Member States to inform asylum applicants of “at least any established benefits and of the obligations with which they must comply relating to reception conditions”.
The Home Affairs Ministry said the government agency that manages open centres is working on translated versions of such documents given that numbers of migrants had increased drastically in the past year.
Asked by Times of Malta on the legal rights of migrants who had signed the service agreement without being given a copy of it in their own language, Dr Camilleri said: “Generally speaking, it is the responsibility of the individual signing an agreement to ensure they understand what they are signing – once you sign you are presumed to have understood and agreed to what you are signing.”
But, she said it is a known fact that asylum seekers, many of whom would have arrived only very recently, are usually unfamiliar with the way things work in Malta and cannot speak or write English or Maltese.
“Moreover, asylum seekers who are just arriving in an open centre are not really in a position to refuse to sign the agreement as their stay in the centre depends on their signature. In this context, the balance of power is skewed completely against the asylum seeker, who has little choice but to sign even if they do not understand what is written on the paper.”