Human rights lawyer Neil Falzon

Malta is being urged to grant permanent residency or citizenship to those born to stateless parents, while European countries should avoid hasty policies that fuel political extremism.

These two proposals feature in a declaration adopted by former parliamentarians who just met in Malta to discuss statelessness in the light of mass migration.

Malta has not yet signed any of the conventions regarding statelessness, and this means that there are people here who are physically and legally invisible.

“Because of their invisibility, they cannot perform the most basic activities that we take for granted, such as opening a bank account, marrying, registering their children or receiving social support,” human rights law-yer Neil Falzon explained.

“Since no State recognises them as their nationals, they cannot be sent anywhere but are forced to remain here in this perpetual limbo.”

Dr Falzon, director of Aditus Foundation, notes that Malta has said it is not opposed to introducing an administrative procedure to assess and identify stateless people, similar to that assessing and identifying refugees.

“We hope this happens soon, and have repeatedly offered the ministry our technical expertise and that of our networks to secure a procedure and status that guarantees protection and respect for fundamental human rights,” he said.

Undocumented people and their children should have access to education and healthcare

Asked how many stateless people there were in Malta, Dr Falzon said that since the country had no procedure to register or identify stateless people it was difficult to guess the number.

However, “it is certain that we are not talking about all the undocumented migrants living in Malta, but a rather small group of people with no State to call their own,” he added.

Aditus supported the organisation of the conference held in Malta, which the NGO hopes has contributed to raising the profile of the issue of statelessness on a national and European level.

At the conference, delegates of the European Association of Former MPs of the Council of Europe Member States, including Malta, urged for increased investment and development aid in countries of origin among others.

They also called on States that have not yet done so, to ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 and that of 1961, which among others set out their minimum rights.

They should ensure that stateless people are identified as such and arrange procedures for civil registration and birth certificates. Furthermore they should prevent statelessness at birth or later in life, according to the declaration.

Meanwhile, while they are being processed, undocumented people and their children should have access to national healthcare services and educational facilities on a humanitarian basis.

European States should also seek to harmonise legislation regarding the rights of children born to refugees, stateless people or eligible migrants to permanent residency and citizenship, especially in cases where the parents’ nationality is difficult to establish.