Detention policy criticised

The government's present detention policy came under fire yesterday by a number of organisations who insisted the authorities should establish a specific timeframe on how long immigrants should be detained.

This was broached during a half-day seminar with the theme 'Detention Policy - Addressing realities and issues for asylum seekers in Malta' organised by Alternattiva Demokratika Zghazagh at the Le Meridien Phoenicia Hotel, Floriana.

Chaired by Matthew Vella, the seminar included the participation of Jesuit Refugee Service director Pierre Grech Marguerat; Emigrants' Commission director Philip Calleja; Peace Lab co-ordinator Joe Abela; Labour spokesman Gavin Gulia and AD spokesman James Debono.

Fr Grech Marguerat insisted that people should not be detained longer than two months. "The government has never formally established a specific timeframe, but it seems the present policy is one year and a half," he pointed out.

He added that it was not good enough for people to be told they were free but then have to depend on the benevolence of the state and people's charity.

"It is important that these persons' rights are seriously safeguarded. The government has to establish specific regulations on how people should be treated in detention," he said.

JRS was urging the authorities to commit themselves to a serious process aimed at identifying and implementing non-custodial alternatives to detention for asylum seekers, who apply for refugee status after they are found to be in breach of the provisions of the Immigration Act.

It insisted that detention should be a last resort but, if required, the authorities were obliged to ensure that conditions respected the individual's fundamental dignity.

Fr Grech Marguerat also said that sadly the public sometimes built its perceptions against immigrants based on misinformation.

"These people have no voice and we are creating the emergence of an underclass where people are being stripped of their rights," he said.

Mgr Calleja who said special attention should be given to expectant mothers and young innocent children also discussed the proposal for a brief detention period of about two months.

Mgr Calleja placed the illegal immigrants into three categories: those who wished to apply for refugee status; those who did not wish to apply because they wanted to continue on their journey to another destination; and those who were just not interested.

He said that once a person's application was refused, there should be a specific timeframe within which they were sent back home to ensure they were not detained unnecessarily.

Meanwhile, Mr Abela added his voice to the need for a specific timeframe on how long these people should be detained.

He also condemned the way illegal immigrants were treated like criminals and handcuffed and humiliated each time they had to be taken to hospital.

Dr Gulia agreed that it was wrong to foment the perception that these people were criminals.

Delving into the two existent laws, Dr Gulia pointed out that while the Refugee Act said asylum seekers had the right to seek refuge and remain in the country, without mentioning detention, the Immigration Act established that once they entered illegally and had not applied for refugee status they would be arrested.

On the other hand according to Article 10 in the Refugees Act, if the application was "manifestly unfounded", such as no passport, the persons could be detained.

"It is hard to find a solution for this global problem," he said.

Dr Gulia also called for an internal audit so that the Board of Appeals would be syndicated by a practising judge, to ensure that a person's application was denied because it truly did not qualify by the standards of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Meanwhile, Mr Debono spoke about an anomaly whereby a Maltese who committed a crime probably spent less time detained in prison than the immigrants.

He also insisted that the government should establish a reasonable time period for detention.

Mr Debono also said that those who had been released and put into open centres should be given legal status and considered for employment while their application was being processed.