[WATCH] ‘Change detention system if we care about human suffering’ – President

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No Giving Up, a publication launched by JRS Malta, today at an event at San Anton Palace under the patronage of her Excellency Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, recounts the experience of six Somali women who are seeking asylum in Malta.

Through this publication the women voice their fears, but also their dreams. They speak about the reasons they left their country and the challenges they faced throughout their journey, which is as yet unfinished. They make a strong appeal to our solidarity as they persist in their search for protection and for a life of freedom and dignity.

Two of the women whose story is bound in the booklet, Yasmin Abdirisiak Mohamed and Laki Kayse Muhamud, spoke to those present at the launch and said that they had left their countries in search for dignity and for a better life.

“We fled our country due to extreme persecution in a hope to find freedom and protection, we need your help and we need your protection. I hope you can help us to restore our dignity. Our journey is still unfinished...” they said.

The women thanked the government and the president for saving their lives and for supporting them. They added that although they had arrived in the country with the promise of freedom and democracy, their lives in detention had been restricting and often led to some migrants considering taking their own lives.

They explained that they had been in detention for some 18 months after their first application for asylum was rejected, and that their conditions at the centres made them feel like criminals.

“During the day we only get one hour of sunshine. Although the workers there are very respectful towards us, it is a harmful environment and I hope that those who will travel to the country in the future do not go through this.”

They also added that the interview they had to undergo to be granted asylum felt very muchlike an exam.

“Some of the questions we were asked were not related to our reality and they were hard for us to understand because we weren’t allowed to attend school in our home country so we are not aware of some facts that might appear obvious to others,”

The women said that although they had now left the detention centres and they were now living in the open centre at Hal Far, they still felt isolated and ill equipped to face society.

“Protection is the only way we can have control over our lives,” they added.

JRS director Katrine Camilleri explained that following some changes in the detention system, people were no longer kept in the centres for such prolonged periods, with stays dropping to between two to four months.

 Camilleri explained that Somalia was considered one of the worst countries for women, and that the project had showed that protection meant more than just safety and survival for these women.

“Protection means being given the opportunity to be a part of a community and have a new life,” Camilleri said.

President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, who presided over the launch of the publication, said that the project showed the stories of great women who had undergone terrible hardship.

“The stories show why the asylum systems do not work and they also showed that asylum seekers looking for a better life. The project also gave the women a chance to build tools that can help them in their lives. Projects like this inspire individuals to use their voices,” the President said.

“Detention is a reality that needs to change if we care about these people and their rights, she said adding that the practice has a drastic human impact in addition to the human rights concerns it raises. It is time to reflect on options other than detention and assess the current situation.”

Coleiro Preca said that migration persisted despite the various measures taken to deter people from taking the perilous journey.

“More needs to be done to make things safer for asylum seekers. Hopefully the booklet will help to show that asylum seekers are people like us and society will understand the positive impact these people can have on society.”

She added that detention made it harder for these people to adapt to life outside the centres and mentioned the possibility of holding more fora and meetings to understand and address the needs of those that need it the most.


The booklet is the outcome of group sessions held by JRS Malta with Somali women in detention and immediately following their release, between April and October 2014. The process was facilitated by JRS, but the messages are theirs alone.

“JRS has a philosophy to address women because they are often unaware of their rights since they hail from patriarchal societies. They face high incidence of sexual and gender based violence both in their countries and during their journey,” Camilleri said.

Female asylum seekers are in a minority in Malta, and many feel hopeless and unsafe in detention.

“Our project aimed to increase psychosocial help to women and to help them to realise they can be agents of change in their everyday life.”

An excerpt from the booklet:

“In my country my rights were violated, I could not go to school, I could not choose who to marry. My life was not mine but dictated by someone else. In the desert, it was the same, and here too I find myself in the same situation, in detention, without any control over my life, at the dictates and mercy of someone else… If I am to be respected, first I need to be free, free from the bars surrounding me, free from being controlled by someone else, free to run my life.”