Editorial

EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot's comments about the unsatisfactory state of Malta's detention centres and the unexpected departure of the doctors and nurses of world-respected Medecins Sans Frontiers in protest at the way detainees are treated highlighted the inadequacy of the country's immigration facilities. The recent spate of break-outs from detention centres together with the pictures of rioting detainees causing untold damage to their accommodation and facilities, have further added to the grave concern. These incidents and the images they convey have understandably fuelled misgivings about the government's grip on the situation and are likely to be among the reasons mentioned by those who advocate extreme and irrational action in the fight against illegal immigration.

Yet, the government's policy on detention is the correct one. As the recent think-tank report on illegal immigration by the Today Public Policy Institute put it: "First, detention is considered necessary to ensure adequate control of the immigrants during the asylum application process. Second, detention allows the government to release immigrants into the open centres and the community at large in a well-calibrated and organised manner, so as to minimise the social and other consequences on Maltese society".

The escapes from detention, the rioting and the appalling state of the centres, alas, undermine this policy.

The purpose of the detention centres should be to provide secure but humane accommodation in a regime with as much freedom of association as possible, consistent with maintaining a safe and secure environment. The system in place is evidently failing on all these counts. Security is being flouted and the safety of both detainees and the over-stretched Detention Service personnel is being endangered. This can be improved not so much by deploying more Detention Service personnel, who are an expensive resource, but by, for example, building better perimeter fences around them.

Above all, there is a most pressing need to alleviate the over-crowding and poor conditions that exist in detention centres, which lead inevitably to the explosions of anger and frustration by the detainees that has been witnessed and the criticism of those, such as Medecins Sans Frontiers, who have no axe to grind against Malta and came here to help. The numbers of migrants in detention far exceed planned capacity. This underlines the urgent need for one or two more detention centres to be provided and for conditions within them to be improved. Of course, Malta would need help of various sorts to do that.

A structured programme aimed at preparing detainees for the time when they will leave the centres must also be provided. At present there are no arrangements for keeping detainees gainfully occupied while in detention. This policy is short-sighted as it leads directly to boredom and frustration, which, in turn, lead to unruly behaviour and ill-discipline. It is in Malta's self-interest to ensure that those held in detention, who will one day leave either for life in Malta or Europe, should be properly prepared for this transition.

While the recent heavy influx of immigrants has been unexpected, the problem has been here since 2002. The poor state of the detention centres leaves a stain on Malta's reputation. Those who would argue that bad conditions act as a deterrent - discouraging the mythical pull-factor to Malta - display a cynicism that should have no place in a civilised society. The least one should expect of the government is that, after seven years, the basic infrastructure to cope with the matter effectively should be in place.