Too hot to handle (1)

There are very few instances when the government and opposition agree, and one of these rare occasions relates to the policy of detention of immigrants. Although we all know that it is inhumane to keep irregular immigrants, asylum seekers or refugees in detention centres for extended periods of time, yet very few are prepared to challenge the system itself.

The situation in Malta is particularly hampered since politically it is too hot to handle. We speak more loudly about golf courses, car parks and rubbish dumps. But why should we be surprised. These are vote-catching issues.

Surely we are getting our priorities wrong. Many know and are aware of, but most choose to ignore the existence of this tragedy. And that is exactly what it is: each immigrant has his or her own story - some to flee injustice, all to start anew, most to make a better life, none to stay in Malta.

Today Malta is a frontier country of the European Union. Belatedly, the government has tried to tap the European Refugee Fund. Let us wish for a positive response since this is precisely what Europe is all about - solidarity and the sharing of burdens.

I cannot understand why we had failed to request financial and material help when Malta, per capita, has the third highest rate of asylum seekers. But then even the European Union itself viewed the "problem" in slow motion. Finally it has come to terms with the fact that we are facing a "tragedy" of three-dimensional proportions, and only this month has it provided additional funds for border control.

The reason for the high rate of asylum seekers in Malta is that the detainees do not have much choice. Repatriation is their nightmare. And that is why what happened at Safi shocked us into reality. No one can forget the image of that immigrant pinned to the ground by a soldier's boot while a particularly short specimen is arching backwards trying to achieve maximum force for his riot cudgel.

Such incidents must surely provoke us to ask some searching questions about the role of the army. Perhaps, like the detainees, our soldiers are equally frustrated. They are trained to kill as well as save lives.

And lives they do save, in particular those of the immigrants themselves. Ironically, had it not been for our armed forces, most of our detention centres would be empty.

Although the force used to quell the Safi protest appeared disproportionate, on the other hand, indiscriminate condemnation of an entire regiment is equally wrong. I know many soldiers and police officers who have distanced themselves from the Safi debacle, not to mention the many who, on a personal initiative, provide so many necessities, from blankets to phone cards, trying to make the lives of detainees a little bit more bearable. But now we are eager to await the conclusion of the inquiry.

Inquiries are not only a necessity but a tool.

In addition they are convenient - time will pass, emotions subside, incidents pale and broken bones heal.

At the same time a national forum was launched, and we debate and we discuss. But do we deliver? Meanwhile, those detained are steadily losing faith in humanity and can only continue to wait for charity and hope for a better life.

The inquiry will evaluate what actually happened at Safi. Identifying the perpetrators is important but what is essential is an objective evaluation of the detention policy itself.

"...Malta has the most draconian detention policy in the EU..." Not my words, but those of the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Little wonder that journalists are not allowed access to detention centres and doctors are refusing to go there.

We have created Maltese ghettoes. The main argument in favour of detention centres is that they deter. But who do they deter, since none of the immigrants reached our shores of their own free will.

Is it pertinent to ask whether the cause of the crisis is the detention policy itself? Through it, are we preventing the natural course of events?

Perhaps the alternative is staring at us through the face of each and every detainee. Is the key to the solution the one that opens the gates?