Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503368
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JULY 2023 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA ASYLUM claims lodged in Mal- ta in 2022 were lower than in the previous year, despite a growing number of crossings through the treacherous Central Mediterra- nean route. Detections of boat migrants attempting the deadly route rose by over 50% to 106,000 in 2022, making it the second busiest route for asylum seek- ers into Europe. In a sign of the growing fa- talities of the route, detections outnumbered asylum claims in Italy and Malta, the two coun- tries along this route. While asylum claims lodged in Malta were lower than in the previous year – 444 sea arriv- als compared to 832 – applica- tions in Italy increased by over one-half in 2022. Illegal arriv- als surged in May 2022 and in- creased further in July and Au- gust 2022. In 2022, Malta granted ref- ugee status or subsidiary pro- tection in just 6% of total deci- sions. While boats departed mainly from Libya, two boats also de- parted from Lebanon and were rescued by AFM in the Mal- tese SRR and disembarked in Malta. In 2022, there were no sea arrivals from Eritrea and Sudan, which represented 26% and 12%, respectively, of ar- rivals in 2021. However, 2022 saw a much greater proportion of those rescued coming from Bangladesh (51%) and from the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria) (28% in 2022, as opposed to 16% in 2021). 'Dublin' transfers to Malta Malta was also at the forefront of 'Dublin' requests, which forces border countries to take back asylum seekers that lodge their claims in secondary coun- tries of movement. In 2022, the overall rate of acceptance of responsibility was 60% of Dublin requests, with increases coming from Hungary (+29 points), Bulgar- ia (+24 points) and Malta (+16 points). In contrast, a signifi- cant decrease was recorded in Spain (-9 points). Acceptance rates varied from over 80% in Croatia and Lithuania, to 1% in Greece. The Dublin III Regulation dis- tinguishes between 'take back' and 'take charge' requests: member states can send 'take back' requests to other mem- ber states for asylum seekers who had already filed an orig- inal asylum claim in the first member state. Conversely, a member state may send a 'take charge' request asking another member state to assume responsibility for an applicant who did not apply for asylum, but for which the oth- er member state is responsible under Dublin III criteria: fam- ily reunion – in particular for unaccompanied minors – visa or residence documentation, entry or stay reasons, and hu- manitarian reasons. Still, several Dublin transfers to Malta were halted due to the island's detention policy: for example, a Rome tribunal annulled the transfer of an asy- lum seeker who had already been detained in Malta for 16 months, fell ill due to the con- ditions and had to be hospital- ised for two months. Likewise, the Dutch Council of State upheld a case concern- ing two applicants, including a child who suffered trauma in Malta and experienced PTSD. The court stated that the child would be at risk of a significant and irreversible impact on her health if transferred back to Malta. The council added that, even though the medical advice con- cluded that the child was phys- ically fit to travel, the Dutch authorities should have been more active to fulfil their duty to clarify any serious doubts about the impact of the trans- fer on the child's health – the Dutch migration authorities do not transfer vulnerable asylum seekers to Malta if they are fac- ing detention. The Constitutional Court in Austria also disagreed with a decision by the Federal Ad- ministrative Court (BVwG) to forge ahead with the transfer of a Syrian national to Malta: he claimed Malta would violate his rights by placing him in de- tention. Accelerated procedures criti- cised The Maltese human rights organisation Aditus has also strongly criticised the presence of several countries on the safe country list in Malta because they discriminate and crim- inalise LGBTIQ individuals. Aditus said this practice under- mines the proper safeguards at second instance for these in- dividuals who are fleeing per- secution based on their sexual orientation and gender identi- ty, especially in cases where the first instance decision rejects the application as manifestly unfounded. Malta's Interna- tional Protection Agency (IPA) stated that all procedural guar- antees apply within the accel- erated procedure. The European Court of Hu- man Rights in 2023 ruled a breach of an asylum claim- ant's right to a fair trial when his rejected application for protection was automatically reviewed by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal without hearing him or without a clear possibility of a further appeal. In 2022, concerning the case of a different applicant, the ECHR held that the accel- erated asylum procedure did not offer effective guarantees to protect the applicant from an arbitrary removal. 80% of refugees from Ukraine A combined total of 5 mil- lion people arrived in Europe in 2022, adding acute pressure on already-strained reception places in many countries, the EU's Asylum Agency (EUAA) said in its annual report. Of these, 4 million fled Ukraine and registered for temporary protection. In total, 7 out of every 10 ap- plications were lodged in five receiving countries, namely Germany (244,000 applica- tions), France (156,000), Spain (118,000), Austria (109,000) and Italy (84,000). During the record levels of 2015 and 2016, applications for international protection were primarily lodged by nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. In 2022, however, the surge in applications was due to a much wider range of nationalities seeking protection in Europe. As previously, the main coun- tries of origin were Syria (with 138,000 applications) and Af- ghanistan (132,000), in addi- tion to Türkiye (58,000), Ven- ezuela (51,000) and Colombia (43,000). mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Asylum boat crossings to Malta lowest since 2018 Asylum claims lower than in previous year despite growing number of crossings through deadly Central Mediterranean route Illegal arrivals surged in May 2022 and increased further in July and August 2022 (File photo)