'Detention is not the solution'

Detention is not the best or most affordable option for asylum seekers, according to Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta) assistant director Katrine Camilleri.

Dr Camilleri said that apart from the huge personal cost suffered by those in long-term detention, it was also a costly exercise and there were alternatives which better respected basic human rights.

Speaking in an interview, Dr Camilleri and JRS director Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat welcomed the comments made on Tuesday by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles. His comments, they said, strengthened what they had long been saying.

Mr Gil-Robles said that the detention centres in Malta were "shocking" and "needed serious action".

He was critical of the fact that asylum seekers were living in difficult conditions for an excessively long period of time, adding that it was "unacceptable" for them to be detained for one to two years before their application was processed.

In a policy document issued recently, JRS called on those responsible to set up the required administrative structures to provide those in detention with the ability to access basic services.

It is also urging them to commit themselves to a serious process aimed at identifying and implementing non-custodial alternatives to detention.

Fr Grech Marguerat yesterday said the island was still unprepared, more than 18 months after the influx of immigrants to Malta.

"This problem is not going to disappear and will still be with us in 20 years' time. We have to be proactive - detention is not the solution," he said.

Dr Camilleri referred to the recent comments made by Police Commissioner John Rizzo that some 25 police stations were being kept closed because of the illegal immigrants' detention. He also highlighted the financial costs involved.

A number of asylum seekers were being sent to Mount Carmel Hospital to be treated for depression and that alone cost Lm80 a day.

Dr Camilleri said there had to be a structured system put in place which dealt with the illegal immigrants' specific needs. Other countries, for example, dealt with the problem by setting up hostels run by non-governmental organisations. These hostels provided asylum seekers with accommodation and social support in a structured environment which, in turn, enabled them to eventually become self-sufficient.

"Detention should be a last resort," she said.

So what was the solution? Should all the asylum seekers be let loose on the streets? Would not this exacerbate existing social problems? Does not the government have the right to protect its borders and detain those who enter illegally?

"Yes, of course, every state has a sovereign right to protect its borders and impose measures to control irregular immigration. This includes the right to impose measures such as detention," Dr Camilleri said.

But she argued that this sovereign right was not absolute and nobody had the right to detain these people for eternity.

"We also cannot have the right to assume that people are criminals just because they do not have any papers," she said.

Fr Grech Marguerat pointed out that after the first Gulf War in 1991, 900 Iraqis had descended on Malta and these had never been detained.

"These people eventually either got refugee status or resettled in another country but in the meantime they lived in the community and also worked. Why has the situation changed and asylum seekers are now automatically detained," he asked.

"We have to organise ourselves. We are in the same situation we were in 18 months' ago. For example, there is still no social worker in the detention centres and though the police and the Armed Forces of Malta are doing a good job they are not trained to deal with social cases," Fr Grech Marguerat said.