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Between the EU and the Deep Blue Sea

Fewer migrants may be dying at sea, but they still face arbitrary treatment onshore. On 9 July, the Maltese authorities decided to put about 45 Somali men on a plane to Libya, where migrants are often arbitrarily arrested, ill-treated and exploited. The…
News

Divided We Fall: Intolerance in Europe Puts Rights at Risk

An Afghan migrant is stabbed in the heart on the streets of Athens. Black-shirted paramilitaries linked to Hungary’s third-largest political party march through a Roma neighborhood shouting, “You will die here.” A neo-Nazi gang commits a string of murders…
News

Malta: A mandate for reform

Kelile T. fled Ethiopia when he was 17, crossing the Mediterranean in search of refuge. When he arrived in Malta, he was detained and was taken to the Safi immigration detention facility. During nine months in detention, his mental health declined and…
News

Guilty of Adulthood Until Proven a Child

A typical child wants to be seen as an adult. Unfortunately, some children who seek asylum in the European Union (EU) through the tiny island nation of Malta find themselves with the opposite problem: needing to prove they are children. Children who…
News

Children trapped in the EU's web

The EU can – and should – help unaccompanied migrant children far more than it does.

I first met Labaan, an 18-year-old Somali boy with a slight figure and a well-styled mohawk, this February, in Malta. Labaan left Somalia when he was 15, shortly after his father was killed. He travelled north by himself, taking months to make his way…
News

Malta: Migrant Detention Violates Rights

Government Should Stop Detaining Unaccompanied Children, End Blanket Detention

(Valletta) – Malta’s policy of mandatory detention for migrants arriving by sea results in prolonged detention of unaccompanied children and other abuses of migrants’ rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Maltese government…
Report

Boat Ride to Detention

Summary I left Côte d’Ivoire at 16. My family was persecuted, there was violence and war. I went through Niger, Mali, and to Libya, in trucks. Then from Libya to Malta by boat….…
Video

Child Migrants Detained in Malta

The government of Malta has a policy of automatically detaining migrant children who make the journey from Africa to Europe alone. These children are held in detention centers along with adults, in violation of international law. Human Rights Watch's…