Friday, 29th August 2008 - 11:02CET
UPDATED: Ministry says early release of migrants has to follow procedure
(Adds new more detailed statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs)
The Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs said this afternoon that the criteria by which illegal immigrants are released from detention are already very well defined and all such persons have to go through a set procedure before being assessed as “vulnerable persons” and thus released.
Reacting to a call by the UNHCR for the release from detention of eight migrants rescued from a half-submerged dinghy on Tuesday, the ministry said the illegal immigrants in question are undergoing this process.
The eight migrants, who said they were the survivors from a group of 78, were brought to Malta on Wednesday and put into detention after interrogation.
The local representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) , Neil Falzon, said earlier today that the high commission had long been calling for a review of Malta’s detention policy, especially with regard to vulnerable people. He said that significant progress had been made by the Organisation for the Integration and Welfare of Asylum-Seekers (OIWAS) and vulnerable people were being released from detention much earlier than they used to.
But, he said, the migrants rescued last Tuesday were particularly traumatised and needed to be released and treated.
“We are especially calling for the release of the 15-year-old boy who is being held at Hal Far. He should not have been put in detention in the first place. He can hardly talk and stand,” Mr Falzon said.
Mr Falzon said the UNHCR had made arrangements, through an NGO, for a psychologist to visit him. He said the boy was feeling very lonely and was asking to at least be reunited with the other survivors, who are being held at Safi detention centre.
In a more detailed statement issued late this afternoon, the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs said all illegal immigrants who were rescued or intercepted at sea or who land in Malta are examined by medical practitioners soon after they land and given any medial assistance required. This practice was strengthened further last month with the involvement of representatives of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) who are now working in synergy with the local medical authorities.
"As per standard procedure established with Médecins Sans Frontières, these eight immigrants were first screened and treated upon arrival on Wednesday. This was then followed up by another examination by an MSF doctor and a visit by an MSF psychologist on Thursday morning. A further visit by the same psychologist was carried out this morning. The Ministry will be acting on the advice of the MSF psychologist in the further handling of this matter."
Regarding the suggested immediate release of these immigrants, the ministry reiterated that all illegal immigrants have to go through a set procedure and are made eligible for early release if and when they are found to be vulnerable.
"It is also worth mentioning that the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, in collaboration with the entities involved, has recently broadened the definition of “vulnerable persons” to ensure that all those who require some sort of assistance are released from detention as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, an AFM patrol boat and two German Puma helicopters are today continuing their search for the migrants reported missing. The search is being concentrated on an area between 50 and 40 nautical miles south of Malta. Three bodies were found on Wednesday and two yesterday.
RSS
Comments
"However the concept of migrants being illegal is false since by right a person can seek asylum from political harassment and humanitarian need."
Try say that to responsible governments, such as the Singaporean government or the Japanese government. The statement is singularly naive if not irresponsible.
What's in a word? However the concept of migrants being illegal is false since by right a person can seek asylum from political harassment and humanitarian need. It's not just compassion it's the law.
A migrant becomes illegal if he overstays of cpme by boat and not apply, or is refused political or humanitarian protection.
18 months detention is already long, inhumane and costly. Also it is proved that it's the weather rather than detention is a deterrent.
You question the illlegality of entering another country without identification? You are worried that these ILLEGAL hordes are descending on Malta and may have a stigma of 'illegals'? No matter what your argument intends to project - it is lopsided and UNFAIR on the Maltese people. Moreover I would endorse what Louis Gialanze has suggested and introduce a LONGER period of 24 months in detention as a deterrent to landing here.
Granting 'compassionate' status to a few surviving migrants just because they claim their co-riders drowned is just ridiculously naive.
Just imagine the precedent this will set with most boatloads claiming such and the government forking out thousands on each to investigate and confirm proof.
I have lived in a country were thousands of so called refugees were taken in. I have seen first hand the results as they siphoned off the welfare system, claiming unemployment, whilst at the same time working under the table. Furthermore, they would not assimilate, but expected the host country to adopt their culture thereby creating unrest and social problems. A glut of people, theoretically employable also has a depressing effect on all wages across the board.
The real problem is overpopulation. But a surplus of people is required to fuel the 'Endless Growth Economics' we have accepted as the global model. Infinite growth on a finite planet. Unworkable.
well said John
Irregular, illegal?
We should first learn how to address !
The above two items, though, that from a European standpoint is being called by the wrong name daily and continuously. The people that arrive in Malta by boat from the North African shore are by international humanitarian and European law no "illegal immigrants". These people, as soon as they reach the shore or the border of the country of their destination, make use of their humanitarian international right to seek asylum. Genuine asylum or not, this is irrelevant in terms of Human International laws.
They know this right, only when their rightful appeal to protection and claim for help has been proven unfounded (after a serious investigation), can they then only be called "illegal immigrants"
Calling people that land on our shores "illegal immigrants" is incorrect and unfair. Moreover, as the public opinion in Malta is and has always tended to be hostile against foreigners, especially Arabs, and those with a black skin, it is also unwise to use this incorrect phrase. It creates the opinion that these people landing in Malta are "illegal".
Are we making any distinction between "Illegal Immigrant" and a "Refugee" ?
I would appreciate a reply to the above.
Thanks.
I take it your message to the Europeans (and Maltese) is therefore "go forth and multiply"
:-)
Debates which are not based on the following facts are waste of time:
• The fertility rates decline across all EU countries, this includes Malta.
• The average birth rate within the EU is down to about 1.5 children per woman. This is raising fears among EU governments they will not be able to finance pensions systems for ageing European population. Therefore, man power must be imported to collect taxes for future pensioners.
A lasting solution has to be sought. i don't care who's fault it is, they must be sent back to their original country or face permanent detention here. i don't mind paying taxes to keep all of them in detention, maybe most of them would get bored and decide to go voluntarily to their countries.
In terms of Multiculturalism
One should ask, why Great Britain once upon a time was a great empire?
The Great Britain ripped-off natural resources of India, Pakistan, plus many Gulf States and African countries.
The Economist magazine (On 14 February 2005) released a very interesting report-stating something as follows:
If Indians and Pakistanis were to quit England and go back home, IT sector in the UK will suffer and eventually would lose sustainable market share...
If Gulf States withdraw their money from British banks, 10% of banking sector will run out of business, and 13% of English manpower will go begging in Gulf States streets.
To bring the picture closer in Malta, what would have happened if we didn’t get the Smart City investment?
Theoretically, they should be sent back. (unless the mainland wants them of course, in a timely manner).
exodus from North Africa. Furthermore.I suggest the authorities take a long look at what Silvio Berlusconi has proposed and already implemented vis a vis clandestine immigration. Unlike our politicians, the cavaliere harbours no ambitions to continue his political life in the corridors of the Palais d' Europe and bending over backwards to appease Brussels is simply not in his DNA.
Porter Joyce-Wallace
On Friday, 14th December 2007 MEP Dr. John Attard Montalto wrote a factual article that may interest those who seriously wish to be aware of the core problem of Africa. Here I quote a paragraph - (The scramble for Africa has started all over again. In the colonial period, European nation-states competed between themselves. After World War II, the US permitted Europe to continue to dominate the continent, on the reckoning that the boost to the European economies would boost trade with the US itself.)
I leave the rest on how Europe behind Africa's problems for your imagination!
@albert spiteri
well said
The incompetence of the UK goverment by taking no action has caused our problems and we are now saddled with this increasing problem. Don't forget they will breed faster than you, they do here.
There should be no surrender. All should be returned. Just imagine if everyone who was less fortunate than you were to decend on Malta. It's what is happening here. The wonderful Maltese people must remember that they cannot support the world's poor and that charity begins at home. I wish you luck with getting all the illegal immigrants repatriated.
How is Britain to blame for this crisis as colonialism has nothing to do with it.Most of the countries these Illegals come from arrive,they say,because of reasons far removed from Colonialism.Barbarism is what they flee from and it is barbarism that the British once put an end to but has returned since they left.
The crooked British government might be EU stalwarts but the British People are most certainly not,these people are now awakening to what is going on and will soon put wrongdoers in their place.Watch this space.
I don't think that there's anyone in Malta who questions the Government's policy of detention.