There’s an elephant in the room, and she’s ‘rejected’ and black: observations on the situation of SSA rejected female asylum seekers living in Malta

Abstract: The free movement of persons is now a fundamental right guaranteed to European Union (EU) citizens. The eradication of internal borders, however, has come at a price, this being the increased securitization of the external borders. Thus what has been termed as ‘fortress Europe’ has become increasingly restrictive for non-EU nationals, in particular non-Europeans. The Stockholm programme remains silent on the rights of irregular migrants who cannot return to their country of origin; there is, if you will, an elephant in the room, a presence that all Member States are aware of, but alas, few, if any, are prepared to address. And yet, despite their irregular status, migrants continue to meet labour market demand and contribute to the host society. It is indeed this latter point that brings the notion of ‘open citizenship’ in to question, a matter I would like to explore within the context of Malta. Specifically, I would like to consider the case of rejected sub-Saharan African (SSA) female asylum seekers living in Malta, many of whom have been living on the island for some years now, but for reasons beyond their control, cannot return to their country of birth, and unlike EU citizens, or indeed unauthorised migrants living within mainland Europe, cannot leave the island fortress of Malta Tags: Academic