Behind a migrant’s suicide
Minister for Home Affairs Carmelo Abela has appealed for everyone to look into the facts surrounding the life, and death, of the Ghanaian national who committed suicide, allegedly because of the mental strain of being stuck in Malta without being granted asylum, and avoid basing judgement on hearsay.
He was referring to a report which was published in The Times of Malta, which reported how Frederick Ofosu, of Ghana, committed suicide allegedly because of the uncertainty that he, and other migrants faced while in Malta.
Minister Abela, however, said that there are certain facts which need to be made clear. Firstly, the article mentions a recorded message by the victim. The minister said that if this recorded message exists, it needs to be brought forward to the authorities.
The minister also mentioned how the man had applied for assisted voluntary return to his home country. However, there were legal issues and pending court cases which could not allow for the man to leave Malta. That is why, the minister explained, his return process was halted. “The man had a number of pending cases, in some of which he got bail and a fine.”
It emerged that in 2008, the Commissioner for Refugees had rejected a request for repatriation. An appeal which was heard later, had confirmed and agreed with this decision.
Back in 2013, the minister explained, the man applied for the THPN, (Temporary Humanitarian Protection-New). The minister warned that it would be wrong to link the failure to acquire the THPN directly with the cause of suicide.
“The issue of the THPN (on which the three independent newspapers had issued a joint editorial) only arose in November 2016,” he added.
A failure of the system that has let down the most vulnerable in our societies PN
The suicide of Frederick Ofosu, a Ghanaian national who was awaiting deportation from Malta, is a damning indictment of the failure to address the issue of those failed asylum seekers in Malta who cannot be returned to their country of origin, the PN said in a statement.
“Malta had introduced a level of humanitarian protection status pre- cisely to cover those cases of people who fell through the cracks in existing legislation and found themselves in no-man’s land – unable to be returned and unable to legally stay in Malta. This administration recently suspended the renewal of the protection status rounding up a few third-country nationals, detaining them for months and leaving their fate uncertain.
“The safe return of failed asylum seekers must be part and parcel of any migration policy, but this must be done in a humane way with full respect for people’s dignity, with common sense solutions that protect those desperately in need.”
Beppe Fenech Adami and MEP Roberta Metsola said that the death of Mr Ofosu must be a wake up call to all those pushing populist, ineffective policies in an effort to use migration as an electoral scapegoat. It is a failure of the system that has let down the most vulnerable in our societies.
Partit Demokratiku said that it is saddened by the death of Frederick Ofosu who took his life and whose case was reported in the media. There have been others like him in the past whose tragic demise was not reported in the media.