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The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum-Seekers (AWAS) is in charge of the open elements of the reception system for asylum applicants in Malta. The Agency manages the reception centres and provides welfare services to asylum applicants and some beneficiaries of international protection (since protection beneficiaries are entitled to access mainstream services). AWAS is also responsible for providing support services to detained asylum applicants.
Officially, the reception system in Malta is still regulated by the 2015 Strategy for the Reception of Asylum-seekers and Irregular Migrants.[1] This policy is based on the transposition into national legislation of the Reception Conditions Directive and the Return Directive. According to the policy, all applicants arriving irregularly by boat are sent to an Initial Reception Centre (IRC) where checks and assessments (age assessment, vulnerability assessment, need to detain) are conducted before being referred to detention or reception centres.
This policy was informally suspended during the summer of 2018, due to a significant increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving by boat. The whole Maltese reception system, not sufficiently equipped to deal with such high numbers, was put under extreme pressure. Due to lack of space available in overcrowded reception centres, the authorities decided to automatically detain all applicants arriving irregularly in Malta or rescued at sea.
Despite the drastic decrease in arrivals since 2021, including throughout 2023 and 2024, and a low rate of occupancy in the open centres, the Government still automatically detains all persons arriving by boat on health grounds. Following the ECtHR A.D. v. Malta judgement in January 2024, this health-based detention lasts for a couple of days, following which the Immigration Police will almost invariably detain all applicants – excepting persons deemed vulnerable – for a minimum of two months.
Families, UAMs, and vulnerable applicants are prioritised and, according to the authorities, should not be detained. However, applicants may stay for prolonged periods of time in detention before they undergo an assessment, and it is established that they are a minor or vulnerable.
Once admitted to the open reception centres, families and vulnerable applicants can be accommodated for one year while non-vulnerable adults are given a six-month contract which can be extended if the applicant is considered to be vulnerable or facing significant challenges. People are asked to leave at the end of their contract irrespective of their status, including when their application for international protection is still pending. It is at this point that material reception conditions are formally withdrawn, although in 2023 and 2024 AWAS exceptionally agreed to continue providing the per diem to applicants living in the community.
The Maltese reception system consists of several reception facilities, largely gathered in the large-scale area in the industrial town of Ħal Far. An NGO also runs a large open centre, catering mainly for family units. AWAS confirmed that at the end of 2024, four centres were in use: Ħal Far Open Centre/Initial Reception Centre; Ħal Far Open Centre (families and single women); Ħal Far Tent Village (largely adult men); Dar il-Liedna (UMAS).
Six months remain an extremely limited amount of time for asylum applicants to acquire language skills, find a regular employment and save what is sufficient to make front to regular rent payments. Access to formal employment remains an issue, with asylum applicants from countries deemed safe barred from accessing regular employment for the first 9 months of their stay. As a result, many asylum applicants have to resort to irregular, unstable work positions. Homelessness, particularly amongst vulnerable persons was reported to be on the rise. Upon intervention of social workers or NGOs, extensions of contracts in open centres were granted if places are available. Additionally, NGOs report that, following individual interventions, AWAS often agrees to continue granting the per diem to applicants when they leave – freely or forcibly – the open reception centres.
A report published in December 2021 by JRS and aditus foundation entitled ‘In Pursuit of Livelihood: An in-depth investigation of asylum-seekers’ battle against poverty and social exclusion in Malta concluded “that asylum-seekers face poverty and social exclusion from the very start of their life in Malta. The interviews painted a picture of a reception system that fails to act as a stepping stone towards self-sufficiency due to the absence of a language and/ or vocational programme that is intrinsically linked to the reception stage and the meagre per diem allowance. Participants left the open centre with the same deficiencies in skills, competencies, savings and job prospects they had when they entered.” The report draws on data collected by interviewing the head of household on income and health indicators, deprivation and dwelling conditions from 116 households.[2]
Given the phaseout of EUAA support, there was no EUAA presence with AWAS in 2024.
[1] AWAS, Migration Policy, Strategy for the reception of asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, available at: https://bit.ly/3f4YE5s.
[2] JRS and aditus foundation, In Pursuit of Livelihood: An in-depth investigation of asylum-seekers’ battle against poverty and social exclusion in Malta, December 2021, available at https://bit.ly/3INSF1W.