Facing up to a problem (2)

I would like to comment on certain reactions to my article, entitled Facing Up To A Problem (February 23). In it I suggested that, given the present unsustainable situation as regards what even our Prime Minister described as one of our biggest problems, we should start sending illegal immigrants back in the direction they came from while ensuring that every consideration is taken with regard to their wellbeing.

This is practically identical to what is done by the United States of America's Coast Guard in dealing with illegal immigrants coming from Haiti and Cuba. With one important difference: The US sends these immigrants back to their country of origin. We would be directing them towards a country in which many have been living as immigrants for a number of years, working to earn enough money for the shuttle service that is being organised from Libya into Europe practically unchecked by the Libyan authorities. Few of the illegal immigrants are Libyans.

The argument that these people are coming here specifically to escape terror and persecution does not hold water, thus exonerating us from the obligations of the Dublin Convention (article 31). We are simply a link in a chain of criminality that is preying on these individuals' aspirations for a better standard of living in what they consider to be Utopia: Europe.

What will they find when they get here? They will be detained for months on end in conditions that can safely be described as being far from ideal. Work is hard to find and it will become even harder in the coming months, given the global economic situation that is affecting our country. The situation is a time bomb waiting to explode.

UN representatives and Council of Europe officials have been lecturing us over the years about our legal obligations towards these unfortunates. They stress that we should never forget that we must show them solidarity and insist that we should improve their living conditions. I will repeat what I have been saying over the years, even in high-level meetings I had with such officials: We expect the European community and, yes, the United Nations to tackle this problem seriously and not to base itself on conventions that are outdated and which were drawn up when the phenomenon of irregular migration was totally different to what it is today, conventions that were drawn up to handle the situation bona fide refugees find themselves in.

We expect the international community to practise what it preaches and show solidarity itself by sharing the burden. It is obvious that a small country like Malta can't cope with the situation.

Our government and our representatives in Europe have been doing their utmost to appeal for assistance from Europe, to little or no avail. Our Libyan neighbours would seem to be taking Italy, a country that they depend upon for billions of euros in trade, for a ride. Is it surprising that they are ignoring tiny Malta?

I will not deign to answer those who brought up matters that are completely unrelated to the issue in their efforts to shut me up. Even the most naïve of observers must realise what their motives are.

We must act now.

The author is a Nationalist member of Parliament

jpullicinoorlando@yahoo.com