Government preparing Bill to combat racism

A Bill to counter racism and xenophobia would be presented to Parliament in the coming days, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said yesterday.

Winding up the budget debate on his ministry's viotes, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said an increasing number of illegal immigrants were accepting to return home voluntarily once they realised they could receive refugee status or international protection.

Malta was being firm and was not yielding to pressure to do away with its immigration policy. The government disagreed with any notion of stopping Frontex patrols, but it wanted a stronger, more efficient system.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said a meeting between Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Italy would be held next week to keep illegal immigration at the top of the EU's agenda.

The minister thanked the United States for its assistance in the relocation of migrants, and said that a mechanism of repatriation was being established with a number of "countries of departure".

The EU had come in with a lot of help for Malta, including €3 million with €16 million more pending on illegal immigration. A major step forward had also been made with the EU's asylum treaty and burden sharing. Malta had got everything possible from the EU immigration pact.

The Italo-Libyan agreement on illegal immigration was not yet in operation, but would be supported by Malta. It was also good that the EU had started talks directly with Libya.

Turing to the Correctional Facility, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the prisons had passed through various changes. An internal board of inquiry had been set up in order to move forward.

Also in the imminent pipeline was a White Paper on parole which should change the scenario appreciably, even if rigorous. Drugs were known to be present in every prison, but the White Paper would incentivise every prisoner to earn remission even by attending rehabilitation courses. This would help to ensure a decreasing incidence of returns to prison.

The system of converting fines and experts' fees into prison terms was working well, with quite a number of prison stays extended.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said criminality tended to change over time, but seemed to be on the wane although one should not get carried away. Notable successes had been achieved in areas like drugs and economic crime.

It was hard to believe allegations of demoralisation and apathy within the police corps, especially after there had been 350 applicants for 100 vacancies.

The minister said that on Monday he had met a delegation from the Malta Police Association, and their requests were being negotiated. Police officers would certainly be paid for all extra duties performed. Promotions were not adjudicated by the minister or the Commissioner of Police, but by a board set up to make an independent assessment in a transparent exercise.

While fines were to be raised for hit-and-run, drunken driving and using mobile phones while driving, the corps was to be better equipped. Next year would see an expenditure of €190,000 for digital lab photographic equipment, €56,000 for bullet-proof vests and six new motorcycles.

Danger-money requests for members of the Civil Protection corps were being considered. This year the corps had been called out on 4,000 cases of fire, 405 of serious traffic accidents and 31 of animal rescue. Next year the corps would have a number of mobile defibrillators for use as necessary.

Malta was making itself available to help other countries in civil protection needs and vice-versa.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the Office of the Attorney General had done great work over the years, even recruiting new lawyers. He rebutted the allegation that the best brains were leaving the office, adding that only two had left. The radical changes made to the office mechanism had almost tripled the number of appeals from sentences handed down by magistrates' courts, and the number of trials by jury had greatly increased. Steps were now in hand to create a number of units, notably to handle EU, civil and Constitutional affairs.

He agreed with the opposition that it was frustrating to have to wait too long for satisfaction from the courts. Out of 1,300 traffic cases before the arbitration tribunal, 900 had been decided and 400 new cases had been submitted to the 400 still remaining.

The Arbitration Centre had brought to Malta a great number of international cases, which was good for Malta and for Maltese lawyers. The government was considering the setting up of a maritime arbitration sector after reviewing the progress of other cases.

Almost 13,000 legal letters had helped to cut down the number of cases in court by 13 per cent since 2005, and reduced the volume of pending cases by age of lawsuit. Whereas in 2003-08 up to 61 per cent of pending cases were up to three years old, the cases over three years old had also decreased. The First Hall had seen 25 per cent more cases presented, from 1,200 to 1,900, with a steady number of cases decided.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that the Chief Justice and the rule-making board had done a lot of good work especially in the courts of appeal, with a drastic reduction in cases pending from 1,030 to less than 700. He would have no problem discussing an updated role for the Chief Justice. From January every case would have to be notified within two months and could be put off for not more than two months at a time.

The legal aid system was a can of worms and the government must be careful not to go through what other countries had done. Statistically a lot had been achieved over past years.

There was still a lot to be done, but as much as possible would be done in the various sectors over the next months, including moral damages in traffic cases, he concluded.

Beppe Fenech Adami (PN) said that the government had faced the illegal immigration problem with determination as it impinged upon its international, national, legal and moral obligations. This was a tragedy of the greatest magnitude.

Last year, Frontex was introduced after Malta had insisted with the same EU to have patrols in its territorial waters to ward off boatloads of illegal immigrants.

Now the government had managed to put the problem at the top of the EU agenda. Until a few months ago, the EU never treated the problem as a union problem. Malta also benefits from the Refugee Fund and the External Boarders Fund.

This was not enough: Malta worked for the problem to be given a higher profile and for the first time the burden-sharing mechanism was introduced.

He criticised MLP leader Joseph Muscat of being two-faced: while in Malta he asked the government to be strong against illegal immigration, in the European Parliament he abstained on the resolution for progress made in the fields of freedom, security and justice.

He said it was inacceptable that some of the illegal immigrants were being employed abusively and miserly paid. This was also detrimental to Maltese workers.

Dr Fenech Adami said that the Police Corps was citizen-friendly and on the side of justice. The government continued its investment in the corps and was committed that the compliment would be adequate to the present-day needs.

Franco Debono (PN) referred to what José Herrera said regarding the various forms of dispute resolution and said that the arbitration system was a positive development. One must examine whether the retirement age of the judiciary should be reviewed. At the same time, people appointed to the judiciary must be mature.

The independence of the judiciary must be closely guarded and it was positive that the Chief Justice had been given the right of appointing cases.

He felt the time had come to have a number of inquiring magistrates who would not be allowed to judge cases.

The Office of the Advocate General was overloaded with cases and there was a need of more resources. The executive's discretion should be exercised responsibly but at the same time reasons for decisions taken should be made known.

Dr Debono said the judicial activity depended on many "actors" and each category had a responsibility towards the administration of justice. The judicial process would not lead to justice if there was lack of respect between the different sectors.

He suggested that prosecuting police officers should be assisted by junior lawyers from the Advocate General's Office.

The method of appointment of magistrates and judges must be more rigorous. The choice of jurors was anachronistic and a radical overhaul of the system is called for. The system could lead to lack of impartiality.

The time has also come for the introduction of legal aid during interrogation, plea bargaining in cases before of magistrates, and the amalgamation and revision of legislation in connection with drug abuse.