A/HRC/33/50/Add.1 under the age of 16, and that children between 16 and 18 years of age are still being tried as adults and subject to criminal law and criminal courts for adults, in violation of the Convention. According to article 2 of the Juvenile Court Act, “a child or young person means a person who is under the age of sixteen years”. The Juvenile Court only hears charges against and holds other proceedings relating to children under the age of 16 years. 21. The Working Group considers that children under 18 years of age should be treated as children and not be brought before or sentenced by tribunals for adults. In this regard, the Working Group concurs with the Committee on the Rights of the Child that Malta should bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with international standards (see CRC/C/MLT/CO/2, para. 66 (b)). In particular, the Working Group reiterates that Malta should extend the scope of its juvenile justice system to include all children under the age of 18. The Working Group also recalls that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child not only should be in conformity with the law but also should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. Recommendations in relation to detention under immigration authorities 22. Malta ranks second in the world in the number of refugees per square kilometre and has Europe’s second-highest rate of granting asylum per capita. In 2008, the increase in the immigrant population exceeded the national birth rate for the first time. Since 2002, more than 19,000 people have reached Malta, a country with a population of 423,000 inhabitants and an area of 316 km2. Between 2002 and 2012, UNHCR in Malta received 15,832 asylum applications. In 2014, there were 2,200 applications for asylum submitted, mainly from citizens of Libya. 23. The Working Group is fully aware that thousands of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, coming mainly from Africa, have arrived in Malta since 2002. At first, most people arrived on boats carrying about 30 people. That trend changed during 2008 to larger boats carrying between 100 and 400 persons. In 2008, 2,800 migrants arrived by sea. In 2013, there were 2,006 persons who arrived by sea. While the number declined drastically in 2014, since most migrants were rescued at sea by the Italian and Maltese coast guards and taken to Italian harbours, mainly in Lampedusa and Sicily, hundreds of asylum seekers continued to arrive in Malta by plane, with or without proper documentation. 24. Today, asylum seekers arrive mainly by air. As of February 2016, 886 persons had been granted refugee status in Malta, 11,243 individuals had received subsidiary protection, and 1,694 persons had been granted other forms of complementary protection. 2 25. In 2009, the Working Group recommended that Malta change its laws and policies related to administrative detention of migrants in an irregular situation and asylum seekers, so that detention would be decided upon by a court of law, on a case-by-case basis and pursuant to clearly and exhaustively defined criteria in legislation, under which detention might be resorted to, rather than being the automatic legal consequence of a decision to refuse admission of entry or a removal order. It also recommended ruling out immigration detention for vulnerable groups of migrants, including unaccompanied children, families with children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and people with serious and/or chronic physical or mental health problems. During the follow-up visit in 2015, the Working Group noted that migrants belonging to vulnerable groups were no longer subjected to detention. 26. Migrants who arrive in an irregular manner continue to be systematically and routinely detained. The detention of these persons is based upon articles 5, 14 and 16 of the Immigration Act related to the offence of illegal entry into Maltese territory and removal. __________________ 2 See www.unhcr.org.mt/charts/category/17. 7