The Office of the Refugee Commissioner and Malta Police Force are to receive close to €2 million in project funding, 75 per cent of which will be financed by the EU, Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg said.
Two police projects, valued at €1.2 million, are aimed at strengthening capabilities vis-à-vis cyber-crime and integrating national systems with international databases.
These projects are:
- Access to Interpol and Europol databases for competent law enforcement authorities – worth over €560,000
- Smart Policing – enhancing the capabilities of the Cyber Crime Unit – worth over €670,000.
The two projects to be implemented by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, worth almost €800,000, are aimed to strengthen the asylum procedure.
They provide for:
- The setting up of a unit that deals with requests related to asylum applications – worth more than €100,000
- Improving and strengthening the asylum determination procedure through training and funds for interpreters, asylum interviews through Skype or video conferencing and use of language and document analysis – worth over €640,000.