of June seemed to open the floodgates.

Malta is not the only destination of hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants crossing over from the north of Africa in search of pastures new in the heart of Europe. The Italian island of Lampedusa has had to face this emergency too.

Of course, these two little islands are not the places these immigrants earmark as the end of their journey. Naturally, they want to arrive in Sicily, perhaps even Italy, where they can disperse much more easily.

But the islands are “in the way”, and the immigrants must be thankful for that too considering that sometimes they barely make it to Malta or Lampedusa, let alone to mainland Europe. Many are being saved as they cling to tuna pens, others seek assistance as their boats start leaking in water many miles away from land, many must be drowning as assistance does not arrive in time. There must be occasions when there isn’t even the possibility to call for help.

The problem of irregular migration has been a hop topic in Malta for quite a number of years. Thankfully, the government and the opposition are very much in agreement on how it should be tackled and what help should be sought. But, in spite of all the efforts that have been made, it does not seem that Malta’s situation has improved that much.

As a European Union member state, Malta has regularly asked the EU to lend a helping hand. It has been argued that being such a small country that is so densely-populated, the arrival of one boatload of immigrants is tantamount to having 20, 30 boatloads, if not more, arriving in Italy or Spain.

Malta has also asked other countries to help in resettlement programmes, but although there have been some who have accepted, others are still ignoring the issue – probably because they have their own irregular migration problems to counter – and the few who have been taken away from Malta’s responsibility are a drop in the ocean of problems Malta has had to face.

Attempts to have patrol systems to monitor the seas as well as to serve as a deterrent have not helped that much either, as the number of people risking their lives in search of a better future continues to rise unabated. International and diplomatic efforts to block the flow have also contributed little.

The problem is too complex. It involves too many countries who all seek to protect their own interests, and sometimes fail to see the overall picture.

The roots also lie in the fact that these people move out of their own country and try to make their way to Europe simply because the situation back home is desperate. Nobody would risk so much if it weren’t otherwise. Again, the developed world must look within and see how it can help to alleviate the problems being experienced.

On the other hand, countries on the receiving end, such as Malta, deserve all the support they can get from the international community, and in particular from the European Union, to be able to deal with the problem in the best way possible.

Malta has often been condemned for the way it has treated irregular migrants but at the end of the day there is only so much that, with the limited resources available, it can do. The EU has a duty towards Malta, and this duty is to see that the burden Malta has to sustain simply because of its geographical position should be eased up via financial and physical assistance.

The concept of burden sharing has for long been proposed by the government, but its implementation has so far been very limited.