Remembering Lassana | 4th Anniversary of the Racially Motivated Murder

Apr 6, 2023

Latest news

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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JRS statement on Assisted Voluntary Euthanasia

Dying with dignity is not about deciding when to die, but about making sure every person is cared for, given adequate pain management, and never made to feel like a burden. Accompanying refugees at the end of their lives, we have witnessed first-hand the excruciating...

read more

Updated: JRS Malta is looking for cultural mediators

JRS Malta is seeking to recruit CULTURAL MEDIATORS who are fluent in the following languages: Bangla, French, Spanish, Tigrinya, Ukrainian The selected candidate will be offered a six-month contract of service - renewable upon review - to support members of the JRS...

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JRS Malta launches call for Researcher

JRS Malta is launching a call for Expression of Interest for a researcher to work with the Project Research Coordinator to conduct a mapping exercise into the needs and sources of support of asylum seekers who identify as vulnerable. This task is part of the RRF...

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On April 6th, 2019, Lassana Cisse, a 42-year-old man from the Ivory Coast, was shot and killed in Birżebbuġa, Malta, in a racially motivated attack, where two other victims Ibrahim Bah and Mohammed Jallow were also left for dead. The two suspects were identified as off-duty Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) soldiers, who allegedly targeted the victims because of their skin colour. Just a few months before, the same two perpetrators deliberately ran over May Malimi, a young man from Chad, whilst he was also walking in Birżebbuġa. Four years on and Lassana’s family and the other 3 victims are still waiting for the excruciatingly slow wheels of justice to turn, whilst the suspects are out on bail.

This heinous act was intended to terrorise and instil fear within the black migrant community. The self-confidence of the two suspects was fueled by years of political rhetoric and inhumane immigration policies that suggested that migrants of colour and black migrants may be treated as inferior people. For far too long, political discourse and punishing policies have fanned the flames of racial prejudice, while others have condoned such discrimination through their deafening silence.

The Government needs to stress that racism and prejudice will not be tolerated. Only then can we start to see real change in the public and private sectors. The Government must demonstrate its commitment to ensuring that justice is served and that such acts of racial violence will not go unpunished. Words are simply not enough! Whilst the launch of the anti-racism strategy is a step in the right direction, real change requires a transparent review of all structures, policies and social norms, and a concerted effort to address systemic racism at its roots.

aditus foundation has compiled a timeline of the known instances of institutional neglect and racialised violence that records Malta’s long and shameful history in its treatment of migrants and asylum-seekers that have reached our shores since 2002. This shocking and shameful timeline speaks for itself.

The killing of Lassana is a tragic reminder that we must continue to fight against all forms of racism and bigotry. We stand in solidarity with the family and friends of Lassana, the other 3 victims, and all those who have been affected by racial violence.

Latest news stories

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...

JRS statement on Assisted Voluntary Euthanasia

Dying with dignity is not about deciding when to die, but about making sure every person is cared for, given adequate pain management, and never made to feel like a burden. Accompanying refugees at the end of their lives, we have witnessed first-hand the excruciating...

Updated: JRS Malta is looking for cultural mediators

JRS Malta is seeking to recruit CULTURAL MEDIATORS who are fluent in the following languages: Bangla, French, Spanish, Tigrinya, Ukrainian The selected candidate will be offered a six-month contract of service - renewable upon review - to support members of the JRS...

JRS Malta launches call for Researcher

JRS Malta is launching a call for Expression of Interest for a researcher to work with the Project Research Coordinator to conduct a mapping exercise into the needs and sources of support of asylum seekers who identify as vulnerable. This task is part of the RRF...