The PRO ASYL Foundation will honor the Maltese human rights defender Neil Falzon and the organization he co-founded, the aditus foundation, with this year’s Human Rights Award on Saturday, September 7.
“Neil Falzon and the team at the aditus foundation use their extensive legal expertise and provide personal support for survivors of boat disasters and victims of human rights violations in detention centers in Malta. The awardees work under very challenging political conditions. With courage and determination, Neil Falzon and his team oppose the ongoing erosion of refugee and human rights and the weakening of the rule of law in Malta, as well as in Europe,” says Karl Kopp, member of the board of the foundation.
The aditus foundation
A society in which everyone has access (aditus) to their fundamental rights: this was the goal when the non-governmental organization aditus foundation was founded in 2011. The staff, mostly lawyers, conduct research on the situation of refugees on the island and in the Mediterranean. They provide legal representation to asylum seekers, publicly expose human rights violations, and advocate for a humane reception system in Malta. Despite significant governmental restrictions, they visit detained asylum seekers and fight against their arbitrary detention. They bring cases before (inter)national courts alongside those affected.
For example, they support the lawsuit brought by the parents of three-year-old Syrian Loujin, who hold the Maltese authorities responsible for their daughter’s death due to delayed rescue operations at sea. Furthermore, aditus works with refugees in areas such as LGBTIQ+ rights, rule of law, and health. More information can be found here.
About the Award Recipient, Neil Falzon
Dr. Neil Falzon is the founder and director of the aditus foundation. He lectures on human rights issues at the University of Malta and coordinates the Malta Refugee Council. Previously, he headed the Maltese office of the UNHCR.
Additionally, Dr. Falzon is part of the legal team defending two of the three young refugees, known as the „El Hiblu 3,“ in Malta. In 2019, the three peacefully resisted an attempt to push back more than 100 people in the Mediterranean to Libya. For this, they are being prosecuted by the Maltese state and face life imprisonment. At the time of their arrest, some were minors. An international campaign, also supported by PRO ASYL, calls for the charges to be dropped.
Time and place of the award ceremony
The 2024 Human Rights Award of the PRO ASYL Foundation will be presented on Saturday, September 7, 2024, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. during a public event in Frankfurt am Main (Haus am Dom, Domplatz 3). Media representatives are welcome.
The Human Rights Award
Since 2006, the PRO ASYL Foundation has annually presented the Human Rights Award to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the protection of human rights and refugees in Germany and Europe. The award is endowed with 5,000 euros and a sculpture by the artist Ariel Auslender, a professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt.
Background Malta
Neil Falzon: „Those Who Do Not Drown Are Imprisoned“
The Maltese government systematically ignores distress calls from boat refugees and refuses to coordinate rescue operations. It actively prevents merchant ships from conducting rescues and refuses to cooperate with rescue organizations or allow rescued people to disembark. Furthermore, it pushes people in distress near the Maltese coast to continue towards Italy. As a result, the number of refugees has decreased: in 2023, only 380 people arrived on the small island. However, this is not because fewer people are fleeing across the Mediterranean, but because Malta has, for years, effectively blocked access to asylum procedures for those seeking protection and systematically violated international law.
In addition, Malta pursues a strategy of outsourcing responsibility and works closely with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. These are several reported incidents of people reaching Maltese waters and then pulled back to the civil war-torn country by Libyan militias in illegal „pullbacks“. In 2022, more than 24,600 people were forcibly returned to Libya, according to the aditus foundation, and in 2023, these illegal pullbacks continued to a country where refugees are tortured and enslaved—a thousandfold violation of international law and the principle of non-refoulement.
More information about the refugee situation in Malta and the work of the award recipients can be found in the PRO ASYL text „Malta: Wer nicht ertrinkt, wird eingesperrt“ (Malta: Those Who Do Not Drown Are Imprisoned).
Media contact:
Press office of PRO ASYL, presse@proasyl.de, Phone: +49 (0) 69 – 24 23 14 – 30