The appellant is an Ivorian asylum seeker who was rescued and disembarked in Malta in November 2021. He declared that he is a minor upon arrival and was directly detained by the health authorities after disembarkation. The appellant was initially rejected following an age assessment procedure in January 2022 but filed an appeal in front of the Immigration Appeals Board, Division II. He then appealed the detention order issued to him in February 2022 and appeared in front of the Immigration Appeals Board, Division II, for a first hearing on 17 February 2022.
The appellant complained that, despite being an asylum seeker, he was being detained solely on the basis of his nationality since he is from a country where Malta carries out forced returns. He further complained that there was no individual assessment of the need to detain him and that alternatives to detention were never considered. Finally, he complained that as a minor he should be detained as a measure of last resort which was not the case in his situation.
The Board considered detention to be lawful and ordered that the appellant is kept in a lodging adequate for minors. The Board decided that it would review the detention of the appellant two months after unless a decision on his age assessment is given before such date or unless the PIO offered an alternative to detention.
The PIO later refused to implement alternatives to detention and the appellant was kept in detention.
Source: PDF with the case
Source: PDF with the case
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