The public inquiry into the killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia continued. The government resorted to unlawful practices to prevent refugees and migrants from reaching the country by sea, and continued to arbitrarily detain asylum-seekers whose living conditions were aggravated by the...

This submission was prepared for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Malta in January-February 2024. In it, Amnesty International evaluates the implementation of recommendations made to Malta in its previous UPR, including in relation to the search and rescue at sea of refugees and migrants and...

In this brief statement, Nils Muižnieks, Director of Amnesty International’s Europe Regional Office, outlines how the case of the El Hiblu 3 is a textbook example of all that is wrong with EU Institutions and Members States’ migration policies in the Central Mediterranean. This statement was...

Two years on, the lives of the ‘El Hiblu 3’ remain on hold as they await their trial in Malta. If found guilty, they face life in prison. Amnesty International is concerned that after surviving the unlawful attempt to return them to Libya, they are being unjustly criminalized for opposing that...

In response to the questionnaire of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on “pushback practices and their impact on the human rights of migrants”, this document provides Amnesty International’s input on select patterns of pushbacks of migrants and refugees in Europe with a focus...

Case poster for the El Hiblu 3, three young people featured in the 2020 Write for Rights campaign.

Case card for El Hiblu 3 case

In the first half of 2020, Maltese authorities were implicated in multiple failures to respect and protect the rights of refugees and migrants at sea. These human rights violations are part and parcel of a wider EU regional strategy which traps refugees and migrants in Libya. This report describes...

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the criminal prosecution brought against the three youths currently detained in Malta in connection with the El Hiblu 1 incident. The organization considers that the charges brought against them appear to be disproportionate to any acts imputed to the...

Since Malta’s last review, hundreds of thousands of people have attempted to reach safety in Europe by crossing the central Mediterranean on overcrowded, unseaworthy boats. Thousands have drowned trying. The central Mediterranean route cuts through Malta’s vast search and rescue region, engaging...

Linking the UPR and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) processes. States have noted the potential mutual benefits of creating stronger links between human rights mechanisms, particularly the UPR, and the SDG process, with a view to achieving both greater and more effective implementation of...

States have noted the potential mutual benefits of creating stronger links between human rights mechanisms with a view to achieving both greater and more effective implementation of human rights obligations and commitments on the ground and increased accountability for delivering the Post-2015...

This briefing reveals the devastating impact of policies which have resulted in the surge in deaths of refugees and migrants at sea during June and July 2018. It highlights new Italian policies which have left people stranded at sea for days and analyzes how European Union (EU) countries are...