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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JULY 2026 Granting a pathway to citizenship for stateless children is only rational Editorial JOSEPH is 12 and speaks Maltese. He has been at- tending Maltese schools since kindergarten. He at- tends catechism classes at the MUSEUM and plays with his locality's football club. Joseph has grown up entirely in Maltese society, forming deep social ties with peers and the community he resides in. And yet, Joseph remains in a state of permanent limbo because although he was born in Malta, he is technically stateless. Joseph is a fictitious name but his story is not. It is a story that many children in Malta, born to undocumented foreign parents, experience. Irre- spective of the nationality of his parents, who for whatever reason cannot go back to their country, or cannot seek out consular services to register their child, Joseph only knows Malta, its norms, and its people as his home. The problem is that Malta has no programme that enables the authorities to identify and docu- ment statelessness, leaving those in Joseph's pre- dicament in a state of permanent uncertainty. So, technically, Joseph belongs to no country and nei- ther is he deemed officially stateless. The issue is further compounded by a lack of nat- uralisation procedure that can grant Maltese citi- zenship to people like Joseph. This is not an isolated case. Statelessness exists and yet it remains largely invisible in law, policy and public discourse. Its victims are children, who grow up in a country that fails to recognise them and their contribution to society. Moviment Graffitti has issued a policy white pa- per on statelessness and how the issue could be tackled by the authorities from a human rights and humane point of view. This leader embraces the arguments put forward by the organisation in favour of procedures to identify statelessness and pathways to naturalisation for those who know Malta as their only home. The Graffitti report describes statelessness as "not merely a legal anomaly" but a "lived condition marked by insecurity, intergenerational exclusion, and long-term marginalisation". Stateless children face veritable obstacles in ac- cessing education, healthcare, stable residence and other essential services, as they grow up in a state of permanent uncertainty regarding their future. It has to be noted that Malta does not practice unrestricted jus soli (birth right citizenship). While a child may theoretically be able to acquire citizen- ship from their parents under jus sanguinis (inher- ited citizenship), this can be impossible in practice due to war, persecution, gender-discriminatory national laws, lack of documentation, or risks as- sociated with engaging with consular authorities during asylum procedures. This leaves children born in such families in a state of permanent lim- bo. It is unfair and inhuman. The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons establishes minimum standards of treatment for stateless persons. However, Mal- ta has retained a reservation to Article 32 of the convention, which concerns the facilitated natu- ralisation of stateless persons. This prevents the creation of a clear pathway to citizenship and nor- mality. While it is understandable that a small country at the cross roads of two continents may have reser- vations about creating an automatic naturalisation process, today's circumstances are totally different from those in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, Malta was a country of emigration—at some point, the state even paid Maltese nationals to leave and go and reside in foreign countries. The last thing a small island with no natural resources and dependent on a foreign military base wanted was to be swamped by foreigners seeking natural- isation. But today, Malta has not only embarked on an economic growth model that requires thousands of foreign workers but also commodified its citi- zenship by selling it to wealthy foreigners. Further- more, this is a country experiencing a decline in the fertility rate with the risk of indigenous popu- lation collapse over time. Within this context, denying a citizenship path- way to stateless children, who have lived their life here, and for all intents and purposes are as Mal- tese as Ġanni, Marija, Faith and Richard, is logical- ly incomprehensible. It is also inhumane because these children are not going anywhere and yet as they grow up, they will face barriers to education, inconsistent access to healthcare and social services, and economic exclusion. They will suffer materially and psycho- logically but so will the country miss out on their talent and positive contribution. There is a very rational argument to be made for granting stateless children a pathway to Maltese citizenship and the Graffitti proposal lays down the parameters on how this can be achieved. This leader urges the authorities to actively consider the matter. No child should be relegated to living in a permanent state of limbo. MaltaToday 10 years ago Wanted husband of murdered woman turns himself in 5 July 2016 ANDREW Mangion yesterday gave himself up after the police launched a nationwide search for him in connection with the violent death of his estranged wife, Eleanor Mangion Walker. In a brief statement issued yesterday evening, the police said that the man is no longer on the wanted list after Mangion "ap- proached the police and is now assisting in the investigations." The police are treating Mangion Walker as a victim of domestic violence, and her es- tranged husband was arrested after a nation- wide hunt was launched to locate him a few hours after the grim discovery of his wife's lifeless body on Sunday. The man is believed to have "sought help" to dispose of the body after he allegedly killed his wife, with whom he had a nine-year-old daughter. Informed sources told MaltaToday that the 40-year-old man is suspected of brutal- ly killing Mangion Walker before requesting another person's help to get rid of the body. Mangion eventually dumped his wife's body in a warehouse in Triq il-Kummerċ, Qormi. There appeared to be no sign of forced entry at the disused warehouse, and it was mem- bers of the Civil Protection Department who forced their way in. The gruesome discovery of the woman's body in a pool of blood was made on Sunday night at around 9.30; the police were acting on a tip-off. [...]