Website specializing in migration news launched in Malta

MigrantReport.org, a website that aims to document the global migration phenomenon through news, investigations and analysis was launched Friday in Malta, ahead of the World Refugee Day.

It is published by U.S.-Canadian author and documentary filmmaker Robert Young Pelton and edited by Maltese journalist Mark Micallef.

Sponsored by the Organisation for Better Security (OBS), a non-profit based in Malta, the website aims to better interpret the impact of migration on Europe and other regions.

Pelton said that "an adequate response to this phenomenon requires both wide spectrum and granular information. Migrant Report will provide an intelligent, deeply honest, and reliable source of ground truth."

"We are looking for voluntary contributors, research grants and primary source providers as we expand our ground network into Libya, and then East Africa, West Africa and the Sahel," said Mark Micallef, 37, former news editor of The Times of Malta, who has covered migration in the Mediterranean extensively for more than 10 years.

Migrant Report is supported by researchers from Middlesex University and is linked to the search and rescue NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) which conducts mass rescues at sea for migrants in distress.

The website launches with written and video material from a recent trip to Libya during which the team investigated the impact of ISIS, smugglers, governments, militias, security and economics on migrant flow. Endit