Monday, 5th January 2009
Italy's decision to repatriate illegal migrants
Malta adopts a wait-and-see stand
The Foreign Affairs Ministry says it will "wait and see" how the Italian government proceeds to implement an immediate repatriation policy before taking an official stand on the matter.
The ministry was contacted for its reaction to Italy's decision to deport all immigrants reaching its shores.
Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League, was reported saying he had arranged for the "activation of a centre suitable for identification and expulsion". The Italian government announced its decision after a spell of good weather led to over 2,000 immigrants landing in the Italian island of Lampedusa over the Christmas period.
Mr Maroni boasted that 38 Egyptians were the first group to be flown to Cairo under the new plan.
From the local end, a total of 3,020 immigrants were repatriated between 2004 and the end of November, including 968 Egyptians, whose mother country had agreed to take them back without problems.
With these figures in hand, the ministry said Italy was not re-inventing the wheel when it decided to deport all immigrants reaching its shores. Unfortunately, an increasing number of illegal immigrants were now arriving from countries such as Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, Somalia, Eritrea and Liberia, where repatriation proved to be more difficult.
The implication of Italy's announcement is that expulsion may be fast-tracked. This brought mixed reactions, with a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, saying the move raised the risk of "generalised expulsions". It appealed to the Italian government to respect the rights of immigrants.
The debate over immigration was sparked again by the recent landings in Malta, which brought ashore 103 men and 36 women, 10 of them claiming to be pregnant.
The immigrants, who were probably headed for Italy, made contact with the Italian Coast Guard's station in Rome via a satellite phone. The Italians informed the Armed Forces of Malta, which intervened to help them as the engine of their 35-foot grey rubber dinghy stalled.
In 2008, a record year for immigrant landings, all the 84 boats, carrying a total of 2,775 illegal migrants, intercepted in Maltese territorial waters had departed for Europe from Libyan shores.
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Comments
"Did the Maltese leave Malta during WWII or did they stay and fight the enemy? Did the British leave the UK? Did Germans, Italians and all those who were engaged in war leave their country? No they all stayed in their own countries and fought the war."
A very valid point: I agree without reserve! Escaping will not solve their national problems; it will only aggravate it for their compatriates who choose to remain in their home land.
May I remind you that the Somalis showed their intention to settle here when two years ago they set up their own Somali community in Malta organization whose president was so arrogant that during an interview with The Times he DEMANDED to meet our Prime Minister and President to demand that they be given more rights and social security services.
Did the Maltese leave Malta during WWII or did they stay and fight the enemy? Did the British leave the UK? Did Germans, Italians and all those who were engaged in war leave their country? No they all stayed in their own countries and fought the war.
That is why the Government must make sure that they are ALL repatriated whatever problems they have in their own country.
UNHCR's mandate is limited to refugees. Immigrants, whether legal or illegal, are not of concern to UNHCR.
Italy is repatriating Egyptians because they know their nationality and where thet came from. We are full of Somalis and we could follow the Italian example by repatriating Somalis, except those who qualify for asylum back to Somalia.
Another point. Are our security forces investigating thoroughly the origins of the powerful outboard engines, the craft and the satellite phones given to the immigrants? I think not. If there is a thorough and serious investigation we might finally find out who is behind this regular shipment of human cargo from North Africa to Malta, Italy and Spain.
http://www.gopetition.com/online/21497.html
Please note: Thousands of Maltese citizens have been telling the Maltese government exactly what the petition reads, years before the petition and or the group was around.
A crisis calls for emergency measures
WAIT AND SEE... WHAT A JOKE. Hello GONZIPN the bubble is starting to burst!
That is after all what you have been doing all along these past 5 years!
What you need to do is get down at work and START REPATRIATING them to ANYWHERE before you never get the chance again!
Tonio is playing wait and see and Lawrence is playing hide and seek.
At the end of the day they are playing with the future of the most beautifull Island's in the world and the future of our next generations. Shame on both of you gentleman.
Italy was not re-inventing the wheel when it decided to deport all immigrants reaching its shores as from next week, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister in Malta said.
You can all find it on
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20081231/local/italy-not-re-inventing-the-wheel-foreign-affairs-ministry/
If Italy is doing nothing new, what are we waiting to see? Surely one contradicts the other.....
Do they really think everyone is Gahan?
So how about us? We should do the same! Our leaders should stand their ground and make it clear to the EU and UNHCR, that we are not children of a lesser God. We have the responsability to take a quota of refugees. We also have the right to protect our people from the ongoing invasion of illegal immigrants threatening to destabilise the order of our society!
The Minister for Home Affairs should give a target to the police force to catch 50 or 100 illegal immigrants every week. They would be kept in a safe place. Many of them could be repatriated - Egyptians, Tunisians, Moroccans, Nigerians (Nigeria is oil rich though corrupt), Ghanaians (they just had democratic elections) and several former French colonies.
We do not buy this mantra that they are all "difficult to repatriate".
But the government must shown it has a national spine.
Repatriation of illegal immigrants is essential and the quicker carried out the better for all concerned. Malta's huge problems created by this massive influx will start to ease and the human traffickers will find it harder to get recruits for the dangerous and illegal 'trip to Europe' once words gets round that it is a futile endeavour. This will undoubtedly save lives in the long run as many migrants are lost at sea during their attempt to enter Europe illegally.
The boatloads of illegal immigrants coming to Malta are setting off from Libya, a vast, oil-rich country where there is no war. If they made it to Libya from their own country, Libya must offer them humanitarian aid - it certainly has the means to do so, unlike our tiny island state which has no natural resources and is already overpopulated.
Nothing comes from nothing. The Italians are getting what they voted for, something which the Maltese fail to breakthrough with some excuse or another. Maroni is not a person coming from a mainstream party who turned anti-immigrant after a bad dream, as many think. Something which the Maltese hope the present elected will do.
Ours cant even get themselves to start speaking with this tone, for fear of criticism, let alone takeg such actions even if possible. Only logisitcal things seems to be holding Maroni. But the message is there.
Comments
1. The “rights” of “illegal” immigrants is a contradiction in terms.
2. UNHCR’s mandate is limited to refugees and does not extend to immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
3. By pleading the cause of illegal immigrants, UNHCR and other organisations (perhaps unwittingly) are encouraging illegal immigration with all it implies.
4. The Guardian of 30 December 2008, in an article ‘Malta: where hysteria is no answer to the plight of refugees’ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/malta-refugees) wrote:
"There's an ugly xenophobia developing here and I think the government carries some responsibility for that," says Dr Neil Falzon, the local representative of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees. "It is selling the idea that Malta can't cope. The truth is it has to.”
UNHCR should stick to its mandate of relocating refugees.
Let's start repatriating them forthwith.