Author
The Places of Detention Regulations[1] provide for a list of the places to be used for the purpose of immigration detention by way of a Schedule, which can be amended on the decision of the Minister for Home Affairs.[2] In practice, the current list has not been amended since 2002 and includes, among a few others, the lock-up at the Police Headquarters at Floriana, the approved place of police custody at the Malta International Airport, the approved place of police custody at the Seaport of Valletta, the Lyster Barracks, the Ħal Far Immigration Reception Centre (HIRC) and the Safi Barracks. Notably, the Marsa IRC is not included in this list, despite being used as a detention centre.
At the time of writing Malta operates three detention centres. Despite the very low number of arrivals the three centres were kept open in 2023, and it remains unclear how people are allocated between China House and Safi Barracks.
- Safi Barracks, where the detained population is mainly composed of men (including unaccompanied minors pending their age assessment procedure). In 2023, NGOs encountered single women also detained here, usually detained alone in small metal containers with little to no contact at all to the outside world. Migrants pending removal are also detained at Safi.
- Marsa Initial Reception Centre (IRC), based in an old public school, where the detained population is largely composed of family units and children. It is not formally categorised as a detention centre, since a section within the centre is open and allows the residents’ free entry and exit. However, there is also a closed component to the IRC where persons are effectively deprived of their liberty.
- The Ħal Far Initial Reception Centre (HIRC), commonly referred to as ‘China House’, reopened in March 2020 in order to cope with the large number of migrant arrivals and the COVID-19 pandemic. It is located in Ħal Far and used mainly to detain newly-arrived asylum-seekers until they are medically cleared by the Health Authorities. In 2023, applicants were kept at China House despite having been medically cleared.
No official data is available, but the capacity of detention has been increased regularly since 2018 to accommodate the new policy of systematic and automatic detention. The Home Affairs Ministry noted that in the last three years detention capacity decreased due to the introduction of new Day Rooms in most of the accommodation blocks and detainees are housed according to their specific needs. In order to cater for this need, more sections were built in the centres.[3]
[1] Places of Detention Regulations, Subsidiary Legislation 217.03 of the Laws of Malta, 1995 available at: https://tinyurl.com/3jewzxf4.
[2] Article 34 (1) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 217 of the Laws of Malta.
[3] Information provided by Home Affairs Ministry in January 2024.