Detention of asylum seekers in Malta

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to look at the practice of detention of asylum seekers in Malta to see if such detention is practiced in an arbitrary manner when analysed under the light of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights. The first chapter looks at policies of detention adopted by various countries as a way to contain asylum seekers and at the justification behind such a policy. Chapters two and three analyses whether such a policy of detention is legal according to Maltese law and whether such law is in line with the above mentioned conventions by looking at the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. And finally chapter four looks at the way detained asylum seekers are treated whilst in detention and looks at some measures, which have been adopted by countries who do not detain asylum seekers, used alternatives to detention.