Commemoraction | More than 3,000 people lost their lives at sea in 2023

Feb 19, 2024

Latest news

Child unlawfully detained by Malta gets €5,000 compensation

The government of Malta was ordered to pay €5,000 to a teenage asylum seeker for breaching his fundamental rights. Judge Giovanni Grixti ruled that Ayoubah Fona was unlawfully detained as a minor in poor conditions. Lawyer Neil Falzon from aditus foundation, together...

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Standing together, with refugees

As 2025 draws to a close, we want to thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us, a journey alongside countless refugees and displaced families who long for safety, peace, and a place to belong. Unfortunately, just when the needs are greatest, devastating...

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JRS issues call for Researcher

JRS Malta is launching a Call for a Service Contract for the provision of research studies into the lived experiences of asylum seekers and the legal and policy framework regulating access to healthcare for different categories of migrants. This task is part of the...

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Run for JRS at the LifeStar Malta Marathon 2026

JRS Malta is teaming up with Jesuits & Friends to launch the latest in a series of our fundraising efforts. This time, we are calling on all running enthusiasts to join the Jesuits & Friends Team at the LifeStar Malta Marathon and help raise funds for JRS in...

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JRS Malta launches complaints procedure

We are here for you…  At JRS we do our best to provide clients with a professional service focused on supporting clients’ needs. We do our utmost to help clients feel respected and supported, as we meet their needs. If however there has been a situation where you have...

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Call for maternity leave cover: advocacy and administration

JRS Malta is seeking to recruit a Maternity Leave Cover – Advocacy & Administration to work with forced migrants and asylum seekers. The selected candidate will be offered a 6-month definite term full-time contract. As this post is a maternity leave cover, renewal...

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JRS is seeking to recruit a Lawyer

JRS Malta is seeking to recruit a LAWYER, to work with asylum seekers and immigrants in Malta. The post is a full-time post, however applications from individuals wishing to work part-time or reduced hours will also be considered. Individuals who cannot work at least...

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On Sunday 18 February, 25 local organisations are calling on the Maltese authorities to prevent further human rights violations and deaths in the Mediterranean Sea.The Mediterranean Sea remains one of the deadliest border spaces in the world. Tens of thousands of people have died or gone missing attempting to cross the Med. At least 3,041 (1)  people died in the Sea in 2023, making it one of the deadliest years on record. The Central Mediterranean Route, from Tunisia and Libya to Malta and Italy, is especially dangerous. Eleven(2)   children die every week, just on our horizon, along this route. Maltese authorities, alongside the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, continue to contribute to these deaths by playing politics with people’s lives at sea, delaying rescue, and using their platforms to espouse the rhetoric of being hard on migrants. These policies undermine our values, spread fear and hatred and endanger the lives of innocent people. The Maltese authorities have also pursued a policy of externalizing the border to North Africa. Neither Libya nor Tunisia have robust legal frameworks that protect the rights of refugees or migrating people. Human rights violations in Libya, including torture, extortion sexual violence and enslavement, are well documented and especially shocking.Nevertheless, the Maltese authorities collaborate with quasi-legal entities, such as the Libyan Coast Guard and militias to have people forcibly returned from within our search and rescue zone to Libya. For example, in 2023 the authorities began providing coordinates of vessels in distress in Malta’s search and rescue zone to the Tariq Bin Zayed Brigade, a Libyan militia with a well-documented track record of human rights violations. Consequently, hundreds of people, many of them children, were intercepted in our waters and forced back(3)   to detention and degradation in Libya. These actions amount to a violation of the legal principle of non-refoulement, enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights which prohibits the transfer of anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious harm.The organisations are calling on the Maltese authorities to:

  1. Conduct and coordinate timely rescue of people in distress in our search and rescue zone
  2. Enact policies and espouse rhetoric that upholds the value of all human life.
  3. Immediately end the policy of coordinating pushbacks from Malta’s search and rescue zone.
  4. Cease support for and collaboration with actors that violate human rights, such as the Libyan Coast Guard and the Tariq Bin Zayed Brigade.
  5. Stop criminalising humanitarian rescue organisations and start coordinating with them to save lives at sea.
References
(1)  Latest Mediterranean deaths highlight need for safe migration routes | UN News(2) Eleven children die every week attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean Sea migration route – UNICEF(3)  https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/126461/torture_murder_humiliation_meet_the_militia_carrying_out_pullbacks_in_maltese_sar_zone

Latest news stories

Standing together, with refugees

As 2025 draws to a close, we want to thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us, a journey alongside countless refugees and displaced families who long for safety, peace, and a place to belong. Unfortunately, just when the needs are greatest, devastating...

JRS issues call for Researcher

JRS Malta is launching a Call for a Service Contract for the provision of research studies into the lived experiences of asylum seekers and the legal and policy framework regulating access to healthcare for different categories of migrants. This task is part of the...

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JRS Malta launches complaints procedure

We are here for you…  At JRS we do our best to provide clients with a professional service focused on supporting clients’ needs. We do our utmost to help clients feel respected and supported, as we meet their needs. If however there has been a situation where you have...

JRS is seeking to recruit a Lawyer

JRS Malta is seeking to recruit a LAWYER, to work with asylum seekers and immigrants in Malta. The post is a full-time post, however applications from individuals wishing to work part-time or reduced hours will also be considered. Individuals who cannot work at least...

Standing together, with refugees

Standing together, with refugees

As 2025 draws to a close, we want to thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us, a journey alongside countless refugees and displaced families who long for safety, peace, and a place to...

read more