19 May 2015
In a booklet titled ‘No Giving Up’, released by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Malta on 15 May, the experiences of six asylum seeking women in Malta are recounted as part of a project that saw JRS Malta hold group sessions with Somali women in detention. The resulting booklet gives an insight into why these women left their country, the journeys they made to reach Malta and, once there, their efforts to access legal protection.
“In my country my rights were violated. I could not go to school. I could not choose who to marry. My life was not mine but dictated by someone else. In the desert it was the same, and here too I find myself in the same situation, in detention, without any control over my life, at the dictates and mercy of someone else”, said one of the women participating in the group sessions.
Through this project, JRS aimed to evaluate the services provided in Malta, and to improve them, by taking into account the experiences and perspectives of the women directly involved in their projects and services.
This article was first published on the ECRE website on 19 May 2015 and subsequently appeared on the ECRE Weekly Bulletin of 22 May 2015. You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.