Malta's acceptance rate 'highest in Europe'

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said he perceived a "rightist" feeling among the public when it came to dealing with the issue of "irregular" immigrants.

Reiterating that Malta will continue to detain these immigrants in line with what the recent amendments in the law define as a "reasonable" amount of time, Dr Borg said Malta granted refugee or humanitarian status to 53 per cent of the irregular immigrants that landed on our shores.

This was by far "the highest rate of acceptance in Europe", he said at the beginning of a seminar entitled Refugees in Malta: Forward Together.

Dr Borg said the government was in the process of identifying new sites for the setting up of open centres to cope with the influx of illegal immigrants. "The government is assisted by non-governmental organisations such as the Emigrants' Commission and the Peace Lab, which all host refugees, but it is not enough," he said.

The minister said the government would remain in favour of a detention policy according to the "general feeling of public opinion". He said there was consensus with the opposition on the matter.

However, Dr Borg implied that, according to new administrative procedures in line with the amendments, there would be a shift from detention centres to open centres and people would not be kept in detention "infinitely".

He said Malta would continue to express solidarity with those who are fleeing from political or religious persecution while adopting "severe" measures against those who "should not be granted protection".

Bringing the government, NGOs, the Armed Forces of Malta and the police together with a number of volunteers who work with irregular immigrants, refugees and people with humanitarian protection, conference organisers Appogg hoped to shed new light on a number of issues linked to the problem of asylum seekers. The phenomenon of mass influx of migrants had found local authorities unprepared when it cropped up three years ago.

The minister said Malta shared responsibility with other countries, especially now that Malta had become the southernmost tip of the European Union.

Though the influx of immigrants created problems because boats were landing at an unprecedented rate, Dr Borg said Malta had to fulfil its international obligations and share in the responsibility.

He would be meeting Italian Home Affairs Minister Giuseppe Pisanu to discuss the possibility of setting up centres in non-EU countries and even the possibility of each country accepting a quota for illegal immigrants.