No enemies of the nation

"Give us freedom". This is the cry of each and every asylum seeker detained in Malta but they are denied this fundamental human right indefinitely. Now, so-called "illegal immigrants" have been refused even the opportunity to call for their basic rights. Thursday's events at Safi, where armed forces disrupted a peaceful protest and injured several immigrants, makes this amply clear.

One urgent question begs to be answered after this shameful incident: Do we consider illegal immigrants as people or have we stripped them of their very humanity? Certainly the brutal reaction of the armed forces totally disregarded the protesters' rights and dignity. There can be no justification of such behaviour, as there can be no valid reason for taking away people's freedom and other rights.

The Times reported that a woman in hospital retorted to one injured migrant that no one asked him to come to Malta. This unimaginative remark - which crops up with monotonous regularity - reveals a depressingly callous lack of solidarity. It reflects a narrow perspective which would dearly love to ignore people from desperately poor countries who come to seek refuge or a better life. The ostrich has a similar life perspective: let's stick our heads in the sand and forget about the rest of the world!

There is another hackneyed and facile observation used by some, which betrays ignorance and insensitivity about the plight of others: "Illegal immigrants should go back to where they come from". We are fortunate enough to live in a country where citizens do not suffer war or violations of human rights, where we can express ourselves freely, where we have more than enough to eat. Most of our brothers and sisters around the world do not have this luxury. Some come knocking at our door for help and we are horrified at their audacity. How dare they? Let them go right back.

Little do we know what we are wishing people back to. I have met hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees here and elsewhere. They tell of the devastation of their families through poverty, hunger and disease, of the rape and killing of their children, of systematic and vicious torture. I have visited countries at war or recovering from conflicts and I am disgusted when my fellow Maltese arrogantly declare that people who risked all to escape such horrors should be dispatched back.

Natural disasters also produce refugees. If victims of the tsunami chose to seek refuge here, would we welcome them or would we insist they return and make do as best they can?

People who leave their homes in search of a better life should never face condemnation. No one leaves all that is dear to one to seek unfamiliar pastures unless one has pressing reasons to do so. Some will have more compelling grounds than others. They may be granted refugee status, they may not. We may agree with their motivations, we may not, but it is not up to us to judge, nor are we competent to. In the words of a Jewish saying, "Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes".

Malta cannot hope to live in splendid isolation and ignore the global reality represented by asylum seekers. First of all, Malta must respect international laws which unequivocally bind it to respect the human rights of asylum seekers. On a wider level, the existence of millions of uprooted people is a sign that something is very wrong with our world today, a warning we should heed.

Their presence is an invitation to work for a more just society. Malta prides itself with being a Catholic country; our religion is based on the principle of universal human solidarity. In finding the courage to welcome asylum seekers we can find the potential for a compassionate conversion, the kind our world needs.

This may sound naive, but it is nothing more than what Pope John Paul II consistently calls his followers to. In one address (1998 Lenten statement), he said: "An atmosphere of welcoming is increasingly necessary... this is profoundly evidenced in the problem of millions of refugees and exiles, in the phenomenon of racial intolerance, as well as intolerance toward those whose only 'fault' is searching for work and better living conditions outside their own country".

The Maltese have shown time and again they are capable of rising to the occasion. Back in biblical times, they welcomed St Paul with "unusual kindness", although I shudder to think where St Paul would have ended up if he turned up in Malta now, doubtless without his papers. Today, a new mind-set is needed which respects the dignity of those who seek refuge and which moves away from labelling them as enemies of our nation.