SOVEREIGN ORDER OF MALTA
Oct. 18th, 2021
The Order of Malta has a delegation to the International Organization for Migration and it also participated in the Marrakesh Summit to approve the Global Compact, which establishes the guidelines for global migration management policies and strategies. The Order has also aided on policies at the local level. For example, in 2019, the Association in Peru collaborated with the Ministry of Defense on the management of migrants arriving from Venezuela.
Mr. Special Rapporteur, you have warned that migrants, particularly those in vulnerable situations, have been disproportionately affected in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic by having their rights severely restricted. The Order echoes your call to unite the efforts of states, entities, civil society, and other stakeholders to promote and protect the human rights of migrants while managing the global health crisis and its impacts.
The Sovereign Order of Malta supports your recommendations, as some of our main focuses are on migration issues and promoting migrant’s human dignity. The Order provides social, medical, and lifesaving assistance in migrants’ countries of origin, in transit, and at their destination. Through its agencies around the world, the Order has established care programs, help centers, welcome centers, community centers, soup kitchens, and shelters, dedicated to helping migrants.
Specifically in regards to your recommendation to guarantee migrants full access to treatment, over the critical months of 2020, all of the Order’s Associations committed to ongoing support for the afflicted, especially migrants. For example, because of the pandemic, the Order of Malta in Europe adapted its activities to work alongside the national health services, both in the testing phase and in the subsequent vaccination campaigns. In parallel, it has continued to provide medical care for migrants through hospitals and medical assistance posts. In addition to the Order of Malta’s Associations in Europe, the Associations in the US and in Central-South America and the Caribbean also reached out to the most vulnerable to provide medical assistance and supplies.
In alignment with your appeal to help migrants suffering from the pandemic’s economic impacts, the Order of Malta aids the populations of those countries which, already tried by serious socio-economic crises, are now in even greater difficulty. The Order’s worldwide Associations have been aiding migrants affected by the economic crisis by supplying social care services as well as necessary products, including food, basic necessities, medicines, medical supplies, and hygiene kits. In some countries, the Associations have gone as far as also distributing cash, clothing, computers, furniture, and other goods received as donations from other international humanitarian entities. In Miami, the American Association has even provided vocational training to immigrants living in the area of “Little Habana”.
