Migration and Asylum in Malta and the European Union

This book is the end result of a research project and two seminars held between January 2010 and January 2011 with the assistance of the European Commission’s Jean Monnet Programme. The aim of the project was to document the legal, policy, political, and social issues relating to migration into the EU, and especially into Malta, and to trace the experience of the irregular immigrant through his or her journey “to Europe” from his or her country of origin, to his or her landing in Malta and then his or her subsequent experience and status. The primary aim of the publication of this collection of papers is to make available as a matter of record and analysis the difficulties faced by the immigrant, but also in the context of those faced by Malta as a small peripheral island State in addressing the phenomenon of irregular migration (often ‘illegal’ immigration from a national law perspective).