Malta
A Tiny Mediterranean Nation,
Awash in Immigrants With Nowhere to Go
Perhaps nowhere are the consequences of the European Union’s one-size-fits-all immigration rules more apparent than here in Malta, a tiny archipelago in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, which now has the highest ratio of immigrants per capita of any European Union member. Many of its immigrants are caught in a limbo, unable to find jobs or afford housing — and unable to move off the island.
It’s not that the new arrivals wanted to come to Malta. Most had never heard of the place until their flimsy boats foundered on the way to Italy, and the Maltese coast guard rescued them from the sea. For that they are grateful. But now what, they ask. This densely populated nation, 400,000 people in an area a tenth the size of Rhode Island, has little to offer them. But under European rules, because they first landed here, they are pretty much stuck here.
Their fingerprints go into a databank, as they do for all immigrants that arrive in the European Union. If they manage to get to European mainland, and many do, they are quickly returned here.
Text by Suzanne Daley
Client
The New York Times
Year
2012
A view of the northeastern coast of Malta, a tiny archipelago in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, which now has the highest ratio of immigrants per capita of any European Union member. A tenth of the size of Rhode Island, Malta does not have the ability to deport those who do not qualify for humanitarian protection. It lacks the network of consulate offices needed to negotiate repatriation treaties across Africa, and the budget to charter flights to take the immigrants back.
Oliver Gatt, operations manager of the Marsa open center, in his office. Each immigrant’s fingerprints are taken and put into a European Union-wide databank. If any manage to get to the European mainland, they are quickly returned to Malta
The shadow of Mohamed, 21, a migrant from Somalia, as he approaches a soccer ball in the cement soccer field at the Marsa Open Center
Sub-saharan immigrants that arrived from Libya are here at the Lyster Barracks Closed Center, a detention center for immigrants in Hal Far (which translates as Rats' town)
A sub-saharan immigrant that distributes food to other immigrants at the Marsa Open Center
Hal Far, a tent village when it first opened, is now composed of 100 shipping containers with no running water. Immigrants live here for months, and sometimes years, unable to find jobs or afford their own housing — and unable to move off the island.
Fatima Aden, 26, is an immigrant from Somala who lives in a container with 13 other single women at the Tent Village, an open centre in Hal Far
The Hangar Open Center: an ex-aircraft hangar with Swiss Red Cross tents in a dark, non lit space. The conditions are very poor and the hangar has inflammable oil on the floor.
Michael, a 25 years old immigrant from Ethiopia, is here with one of his twins in the Hangar Open Center in Hal Far
Shuka, a 25 years old immigrant from Somalia, with her son in the Hangar Open Center in Hal Far
A migrant washes his feet before entering the Alrahman mosque at the Marsa Open Center
The suitcases and belongings of two migrants are stored between their beds at the Marsa Open Center
A makeshift bed prepared at sunset at the Marsa open center. People sleep outside to escape the stifling heat inside.
Immigrants at the Marsa open center. The turmoil in Libya, Syria, Sudan and Somalia is producing a steady stream of refugees heading north.
Hass Mahamed Dalmar left Somalia in 2007, passing through Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Libya before arriving in Malta in 2009 after paying a smuggler $900 to board a boat with 160 immigrants. After seven days at sea, the boat had no gas, food or water. The passengers were saved by a Finnish ship that brought them to Malta.
Mr Dalmar spent a year in detention. He tried once to move to Belgium but was returned to Malta and imprisoned for another six months. Now he works as a beach boy at Mellieha Bay, a resort town.
Like many of the other young men who live here, Mr. Dalmar eats from the fast food stands and sleeps on the beach chairs in the summer, sometimes earning $6.50 a day, sometimes $40. “We are here,” he said, “looking for a life.”
Ommi Saciid, 3, Sahra Huseen, 40, and Sadiido Mohammed, 33, live in one of the containers at Hal Far. Most immigrants had never heard of Malta until their flimsy boats foundered on the way to Italy, and the Maltese coast guard rescued them from the sea.
Ethiopian immigrants at an open center in Hal Far, where they live in shipping containers. Under European rules, because the immigrants first landed on Malta, they are pretty much stuck there.
Guuleed Abdihe, a 16 years old migrant from Somalia, is seen here in the Hal Far Ten Village open center at sunrise in Hal Far. He arrived in Malta a month earlier travelling from Somalia by himself.
A group of Sudanese immigrants visit friends at the Hal Far Tent Village.
Shami Taha Mohammed, a 29 years old Sudanese immigrant who arrived in Malta in 2004, is in the kitchen of the farm house he shares with other Sub-Saharan migrants before celebrating the end of Ramadan with Sudanese and Maltese friends in Zurrieq. Shami co-founded the Migrants' 'Network for Equality' in 2010, after one migrant committed suicide, to give a voice to the sub-saharan community.
Two Sudanese men helped prepare dinner to celebrate the end of Ramadan last month at a farm house in Zurrieq, Malta. The dinner was organized by a group called the Migrants’ Network for Equity.
Daher Abdi Ali, a 28 years old Somali migrant, stands in front of his bed in the container he lives in shares with other 9 migrants in the Hal Far Hangar Center
A Ghanaian migrant stands outside the container he lives with other 9 Sub-Saharn migrants, including his 16 years old brother, in the Hal Far Hangar Center