By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A Maltese lawyer who received the U.N. refugee agency's annual award on Monday said an arson attack on her home helped her better understand the plight of her clients, mainly Africans fleeing violence and threats. In an interview, Katrine Camilleri called for European countries to allow people in need of international protection to request asylum, even if they entered illegally after being rescued at sea. The 37-year-old has worked for the past decade with the Jesuit Refugee Service, which offers free legal services to migrants seeking asylum on the Mediterranean island. Arsonists, who had already burned nine vehicles belonging to the Jesuits, set fire to her car and house in April 2006. Her family climbed out of a window to safety, uninjured but shaken. "In a way it was difficult but it helped me understand much more what asylum seekers go through, what it is like to live in fear knowing somebody might want to harm you, because before I had not considered it," Camilleri told Reuters. "Sometimes when you approach asylum claims with a legal mind, you are interested in establishing the facts. But this has really given me a new perspective." She spoke in a lengthy interview in Geneva before receiving the Nansen Refugee award from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Eleanor Roosevelt and Graca Machel are among previous recipients of the prestigious prize, begun in 1954. The U.N. agency has paid tribute to Camilleri's "political courage" in working to protect refugees and asylum seekers. Malta, Italy and Spain are on the front line of European Union members grappling with an influx of illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East. "Fortress Europe and increased migration controls ... have led to an increase in the number of people forced to risk their lives to obtain the protection they need. People should not be sent anywhere without having their asylum application examined," she said. Camilleri and her small staff visit migrants held at two detention centres to prepare asylum applications. Each centre holds about 700 migrants and offers little comfort or privacy. Some have been raped before fleeing conflict, while others have left children behind, according to Camilleri, who says her work is "difficult, not to say depressing". Many originated from Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia, she said. "The first thing they say is 'I need my freedom'. They feel it's a big injustice that they are detained in such bad conditions for so long. They're quite right ..." Camilleri said. "They say consistently 'We had no choice. There is no way I could get a passport or a visa. I left because I had to and this was the only way I could travel'," she added.
