Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/421389
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2014 News 19 it is acknowledged by the father, in- herit its mother's lack of citizenship. The removal of this discrimina- tion was also recommended during Malta's second review by the Com- mittee on the Rights of the Child in 2013, where Malta was urged to har- monise national law and policy with Malta's international convention obligations. Real lives Statelessness can happen at all stages of life, however. The story told by 27-year old Kafil is one frequently repeated by stateless persons. Kafil was born in Rakhine State in My- anmar in 1987 to a family of the Ro- hingya ethnic group, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. When Kafil was just 7, he lost his father to a treatable illness due in no small part to the fact that the Rohingya are only allowed limited access to medical treatment. Aged 13, he had to start working in the rice fields to supplement the income from his mother's seamstress work. "Working in the rice fields was tough" said Kafil, "but Rohingya were not able to get any of the nice jobs so I did not have a choice." He describes being made to feel like a foreigner in his own country, often being told by other Burmese that Myanmar was "not his coun- try". After being frivolously accused of stealing bamboo from around the rice fields where he worked, Kafil was forced to flee to Bangladesh but returned to Myanmar after a few months, sleeping in the jungle to avoid police search parties and risk- ing a heavy fine or prison sentence should he be caught. He was smuggled to Libya to work but with the outbreak of civil war in that country, Kafil was forced to flee once more. The 27-year old was rescued in Maltese territorial waters by an AFM patrol boat as he was en route to Europe and granted refugee status in Malta. Denied citizenship by his homeland, Kafil is classified as a "stateless person". "I work in Malta as often as I can and I live in private accommoda- tion with friends. There are no other people from Myanmar here. I wish I could help my younger brother es- cape from our country but my refu- gee status does not allow me to apply for family reunification with him." The UN report highlights the fact that the process of naturalisation in Malta is discretionary, and that there are no legal provisions for a review or appeal from negative decisions. It notes that only 24 stateless individu- als have obtained Maltese citizenship through this process between 2008 and 2010. With all this in mind, Kafil is under no illusion as to his chances of obtaining Maltese citizenship. He doesn't see Malta as a long-term op- tion. "I know many people who have been here for a very long time and they still don't have Maltese citizen- ship," he says. "I know there is no prospect for citizenship here". A child born out of wedlock to a Maltese father and stateless mother will, unless it is acknowledged by the father, inherit its mother's lack of citizenship