Temporary humanitarian protection (new) – benevolent or malevolent? : Malta as a case study

Abstract

The problem of irregular migrants has become an issue of concern, and many regularisation programmes have sprouted up across Europe to combat the problem of status. One of the counterparts to other EU members’ schemes would be Temporary Humanitarian Protection New which is an ex gratia relief unique to Malta. This thesis seeks to analyse whether the benefits of Temporary Humanitarian Protection New (THPN) outweigh its drawbacks. An interview with the current Refugee Commissioner, Mr. Mario Guido Friggieri, revealed that there are 1302 current beneficiaries of THPN who had arrived in Malta on or before 2007 and who had to present proof of employment, residence, a clean police conduct, and knowledge of Maltese and English to be eligible. To generalise the findings to the whole population, survey research method was deemed to be most appropriate. Due to the high homogeneity within the targeted population a high number of participants were recruited at the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, while the rest of the population were obtained via snowball sampling. The results revealed that the majority of the participants find the whole process of applying for THPN very stressful especially since it takes a long time to compile the necessary documentation. What also came to light was the fact that many of the applicants are not familiar with the specifics of THPN, most notably that it can be stopped at any given time. The study revealed that most of the beneficiaries believe that THPN provides better job opportunities but it did not enhance their way of life. In view of the findings it was concluded that THPN is certainly not benevolent.