Call for policy change on asylum seekers

Malta should change its policy of detaining asylum seekers for prolonged periods, said the Jesuit Refugee Service in a statement issued to mark UN Human Rights Day, celebrated worldwide yesterday.

JRS voiced its deepening concern at the continued detention of asylum seekers and insisted that the practice violated the basic human rights of detainees.

"Despite widespread condemnation of the current detention policy, the government is showing no sign of adopting new tactics to deal with people who seek protection here," JRS director Pierre Grech Marguerat said.

"It is inconceivable that a government based on democratic principles finds nothing wrong in blatantly violating the basic human rights of asylum seekers by keeping them in detention for months on end."