Cynthia Busuttil
'Detention centre' at City Gate
Detention centres stripped immigrants of their human rights, a Somali man said yesterday, as a group of people prepared to spend two days in a makeshift tent at Valletta's City Gate to show the suffering of asylum seekers.
"As a human being, I want to have basic rights... life in a detention centre is a violation of human rights," Adil Mohammed Ahmed told reporters, as he stood behind a wire barrier, similar to those surrounding detention centres.
The re-enactment of a detention centre in the Valletta entrance was meant to highlight the cramped conditions of irregular immigrants as the world marked International Migrants Day on Friday.
Mr Ahmed spent three months in a detention centre after he arrived in Malta 14 months ago.
"We could not find documents in a country where there has been fighting for 20 years. The only way was to enter illegally," he said, minutes after a Maltese man stopped in front of the demonstrators and started shouting "tell us how you entered Malta".
The 23-year-old has since been given humanitarian protection and moved to the Ħal Far open centre, but he described the conditions there as dire. He wants to help his parents and six siblings, who fled Somalia for neighbouring Kenya, but his hands are tied since he does not have a job.
Yesterday, eight organisations - Moviment Graffiti, Migrants' Solidarity Movement, Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), Third World Group, Moviment Azzjoni Xellug, Kopin, Alternattiva Demokratika Żagħżagħ and Żminijietna - joined forces to highlight the plight of immigrants, calling on the government to review its detention policy.
They said while the system was still in place, the time immigrants spend in detention should be drastically reduced, the conditions improved and vulnerable groups should not be detained.
"I always know when somebody has just been released from detention. The look in their eyes is of someone who has lost hope," Andre Callus, from Moviment Graffiti said, adding that detention was worst than a jail term because it was surrounded with uncertainty.
"Surely, detention will not deter people from landing in Malta because they do not want to come here and the detention system does not help in the identification process of undocumented migrants," Mr Callus said.
Moreover, he added, detention gave the impression that immigrants were criminals and dangerous.
In a statement, the Jesuit Refugee Service said International Migrants Day provided the opportunity to ask whether people were fully aware of the possible consequences of pushing migrants back to Libya. More than 1,400 migrants were pushed back to Libya since May.
"We believe that many of those who see this as a quick solution to the pressures that Malta is facing would think differently if they knew about the treatment that migrants face there," JRS Malta director Joseph Cassar said.
To highlight this treatment, the JRS has published a collection of testimonies of asylum seekers revealing the hardships many migrants face in Libya, which is an almost obligatory transit country for sub-Saharan Africans.
Among the stories is that of Ahmad, who described how the Libyan military left a group of migrants in the desert for four days as a punishment for being caught in the country.
In a statement, the International Organisation for Migration said greater efforts were needed beyond the Copenhagen summit to tackle the issue of environmental and climate-induced migration.
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Stephen Vella
Dec 20th 2009, 19:17
They are against the Detention center because they can't get their documents.That is fair enough for a small group of Somalis or Erithreans, but what if the whole of Somalia ends up here, shall we leave 4 million people wondering around on the streets because their country is in Anarchy?? The Somalis should have helped the Americans to topple thier Dictator in 1991 not fight against them. !!
Louis Gialanze
Dec 20th 2009, 18:37
Rest assured that detention is here to stay. In effect the law courts ruled it as being lawful and not contrary to human rights very recently.
Luke Buhagiar
Dec 20th 2009, 17:37
Well done Moveiment Graffitti, and for all those who are in favour of detention centres, it is purely just a case of xenophobia and fear, and far-right pseudo-arguments infiltrated in your minds.
victor pulis
Dec 20th 2009, 13:57
Among the stories is that of Ahmad, who described how the Libyan military left a group of migrants in the desert for four days as a punishment for being caught in the country.
What pressure if any is being put on Libya for this very real violation of human rights?
Oh I forgot. Libya is an oil producing country unlike Malta. Andre' Callus when you finish camping in valletta perhaps you would consider putting up your camp infront of the Libyan embassy or better still go directly to Muammar and complain to his face.
louise vella
Dec 20th 2009, 12:45
"In a statement, the Jesuit Refugee Service said International Migrants Day provided the opportunity to ask whether people were fully aware of the possible consequences of pushing migrants back to Libya. More than 1,400 migrants were pushed back to Libya since May."
So thanks to Berlusconi's policy of pushing back boats to Libya, we were spared 1400 illegal immigrants over and above those that have already come in the last 7 years and there are thousands of them. If those 1400 illegal immigrants had actually arrived in Malta, would JRS have housed them in one of the Jesuit properties in Malta, like Manresa House and Mount St Joseph, Mosta?
louise vella
Dec 20th 2009, 11:52
"Detention centres stripped immigrants of their human rights, a Somali man said yesterday."
But on Thursday, 17th December 2009, in an article 'Claims of human rights violation dismissed',
(http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091217/local/claims-of-human-rights-violation-dismissed) reported:
“Claims by four illegal immigrants that their human rights were being violated were today dismissed by the First Hall of the Civil Court ... The court concluded that the period of time they spent in detention was reasonable and that the conditions within the centre were not inhuman and degrading ... Mr Justice Mallia declared that it did not result that the conditions in the Detention Centre were aimed at humiliating and debasing the inmates but at maintaining the stability of the country and to prohibit a deluge of irregular migrants across the country.”
louise vella
Dec 20th 2009, 11:36
I see that Alternattiva Zghazagh are one of the organisations of this thing.
In an article on the climate change conference in another section of today's Sunday times we find the following:
"Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesman on sustainable development Carmel Cacopardo said: "The impacts of climate change should lead us to consider whether Malta will be capable of supporting a population of 400,000."
If it is doubtful whether Malta can support its exisiting population, how many additional illegal immigrants do the Alternattiva Zghazagh want us to admit?