Miserable living conditions at Malta’s open and detention centres have little bearing on irregular migrants’ desire to return to their home countries, a feasibility study for an Assisted Voluntary Return Programme (AVR) for irregular migrants in Malta has found.

Any eventual wish on the part of a migrant to return to their country of origin, in fact, had more to do with their long-term plans rather than their particular circumstances in Malta.

As such, the perception sometimes expressed in Malta that making migrants’ living conditions miserable encourages them to return to their home countries does not work, data gathered and presented this week shows.

Living conditions at Malta’s detention and open centres have been described time and time again as deplorable by human rights and medical non-governmental organisations.

Malta was by no means considered a destination country, the study confirmed, and as such most migrants from sub-Saharan Africa hold aspirations of eventually moving on from Malta to elsewhere in Europe – an option the possible adoption of the EU’s Dublin II convention may eventually provide.

With most sub-Saharan migrants finding themselves here by accident, Malta is considered a country of transit and many migrants simply hold out for an opportunity to move on rather than return to the dangers of their home countries.

A parallel study in Italy actually found a higher tendency for migrants to take up the AVR option, since Italy is largely considered a destination country.

The EU-funded study, “Return Policy in the Mediterranean Region”, was spearheaded by Dr Mark Anthony Falzon on behalf of the International Organisation for Migration and the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry.

Among sub-Saharan migrants interviewed in Malta, the willingness to return depended very much on the political stability of their respective countries.

Additionally, older migrants, those with spouses or close family ties in their home countries and those with a history of mobility were more inclined to take up the option.

The two most desired incentives in any future AVR scheme for Malta, it was found, were of a financial nature and the waiving of a re-entry ban into the country.

The study’s remit covered not only so-called “boat people”, 80 per cent of which were men, but also East Europeans, 60 per cent of which were women, and south and southeast Asians. The latter two categories had in fact arrived in Malta by air. The field-based study surveyed migrants at open and detention centres, as well as others in the wider sections of Maltese society.

Among the main problems with being in Malta, the survey found, were the lack of a residency permit and unsatisfactory working conditions. Many of those interviewed were involved in the informal economy, particularly in the construction industry.

Assisted Voluntary Return is defined as a dignified, safe, and cost-effective return option in which, different from forced returns, a migrant voluntarily participates.

Returned migrants, among other forms of assistance, are given a small financial package and are helped in a number if ways to reintegrate in their home countries.

The strategy has been particularly effective in Libya, where the International Organisation for Migration has carried out some 1,500 AVRs from Libya over the first eight months of this year alone.

But of the 200 migrants surveyed from detention and open centres in Malta as well as from the community at large, only one expressed a desire to take up an AVR offer.

But, it was stressed, AVR is not a lost cause, but it was more complicated than simply offering migrants money to return home. As such, the strategy should not be considered as a quick fix but rather as a part of a wider solution addressing the issue.

Thirty-seven per cent of migrants interviewed in Malta said they would consider AVR as an eventual option, but with eventual being the key word.

It was pointed out that many of those interviewed, despite the informal nature of interviews undertaken, appeared wary of the question. Many seemed to believe that if they answered in the affirmative they might find themselves on the next plane home.

The government will be analysing the study’s results in detail with a view to formulating an AVR programme for Malta.