The Jesuit Refugee Service has urged the government to re-evaluate its immigration policy "and to put in place an alternative reception policy that is more in line with Malta's human rights obligations".

In a statement to mark International Migrants Day today, the JRS said that, as Europe became increasingly fortified, irregular migration status was too often used as an excuse to justify treatment that would otherwise be considered unacceptable.

"Immigrants are deprived of their liberty for many months in miserable conditions as they wait for their fate to be decided by the authorities concerned. With migrants, the fundamental principle that human liberty is sacred is turned on its head and, seven years into the experience of irregular immigration, detention is still seen as the only way to deal with the migrants who arrive on our shores," JRS director Fr Joseph Cassar SJ said.

JRS said it was seriously concerned about the devastating effects that prolonged detention had on asylum seekers and forced migrants. In this light, detention was particularly hard to justify, especially as prolonged detention achieved very little. Most migrants were released to live in the community after a maximum of 18 months in detention.

The JRS said International Migrants Day should be an opportunity to question whether such measures were necessary.

"JRS Malta calls upon the relevant authorities to make urgent necessary improvements in detention conditions, including the provision of basic necessities such as warm clothing and blankets," it said.