David Schembri
Justice Ministry says Amnesty report 'riddled' with mistakes
Amnesty International has reiterated its concern that detention of migrants and asylum seekers in Malta is "mandatory and automatic". Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
A report by Amnesty International was "riddled with inaccuracies, misinformation and omissions with regard to Malta", the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry said.
The report criticised incidents where, it said, Malta left immigrants stranded at sea. It also referred to mandatory detention and the conditions in closed centres.
Amnesty said its annual report listed abuses in 159 countries and showed how powerful governments were blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.
Malta is mentioned in the section dealing with Italy. The report refers to the Pinar incident, when a Turkish cargo ship had rescued over 140 migrants at sea but remained stranded off Lampedusa for over four days as the Maltese and Italian governments wrangled over which country was responsible for taking the migrants in.
The other instance mentioned is April 30, 2009, when the Italian government did not allow a Maltese vessel with 66 migrants aboard to disembark at Lampedusa, even though they were four times closer to the Italian island than to Malta. The Maltese government eventually accepted them, citing "strictly humanitarian reasons".
The ministry said the report was misleading, insisting that the Armed Forces of Malta had "properly addressed all reported search and rescue cases in line with Malta's international obligations".
It also defended the army's policy of ensuring "persons rescued are taken to the nearest safe port, be this in Malta or elsewhere in line with applicable international law".
The ministry noted that notwithstanding differences on legal interpretation of the laws of the seas, the Italian and Maltese authorities had, in close cooperation, effectively ensured the safety of thousands of lives in the central Mediterranean.
Amnesty condemned the practice of compulsory detention for all irregular migrants. It said that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had, in January, "expressed concerns about the legal basis for detention of migrants and asylum seekers".
The working group had noted that detention was automatic and mandatory for all, including those seeking asylum, and that the maximum period of detention was not defined in law and its duration was "often not related to individual case assessments".
Amnesty also reported that "conditions in detention remained poor".
The ministry explained that its detention policy was geared to "safeguard the country's security, particularly in view of the fact that practically all illegal migrants enter the country undocumented".
Amnesty said decisions regarding asylum applications and detention could only be challenged before the Immigration Appeals Board, which was not part of the judiciary. This, it added, contravened article 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provided for automatic judicial review of detention.
The ministry shot down these claims categorically and said the Immigration Appeals Board was an independent judicial body and the claim that it was responsible for determining asylum applications was likewise factually incorrect.
Malta had a fully fledged asylum determination authority, namely the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, and an independent judicial board to determine asylum-related appeals, that is, the Refugee Appeals Board, the ministry said.
Amnesty said it was worried that the Immigration Appeals Board could only review the duration of the detention but not its legality, which contravened the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ministry said that, according to a report by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Malta had the highest number of asylum applications per capita in the EU and the second highest among industrialised countries worldwide.
When questioned, Amnesty confirmed it did not have a presence in Malta since 2009. It said all research on Malta had always been carried out from its international secretariat in London, with information based on reports and contacts from local NGOS, intergovernmental organisations and the media.
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Sean Grima
May 30th 2010, 14:51
people pity the poor people living in unhygienic and miserable slums in Africa, but when they come here, they want to boot them out and back to where they came from! this from a nation which considers itself a bastion of christian values!
S. Briffa
Aug 18th 2011, 19:50
I agree with you Sean Grima!!!
I am against any violence and I am not justifying what happened in Safi but then on the Times it says they calculate that the cost of damage is €1,000 do they live in one room or something as for that one cannot even makeover a room in a normal home!!!
T Camilleri
May 30th 2010, 08:28
Illegal immigrants should be kept in continuous detention until they agree to go back to their own countries.
Louis Gialanze
May 29th 2010, 15:48
In view of the fact that a disproportionate number of illegal immigrants coming to Malta are of sub Saharan origin,an area on the watch list of most western intelligence agencies, the government of Malta is more than justified in retaining it's policy of compulsory detention. Amnesty International is no doubt aware that the security of our country overrides any other consideration and can rest assured that Malta will never abdicate it's sacrosanct rights.
We are solidly behind you on this one Carm!
Sean Grima
May 29th 2010, 15:12
you should all be ashamed. attacking NGOs whose mission is to give a basic decent living to impoverished people.
Alfred Bugeja
May 29th 2010, 19:06
Erm... Am I missing something here Sean? How exactly is amnesty giving "a decent living to these impoverished people" in Malta? By writing a report laden with lies?
Oh silly me! I thought that it was the Maltese Government that was giving an allowance, shelter and medical care to these people.
lgalea
May 30th 2010, 08:22
Sean Grima The usual defence from someone defending ILLEGAL immigrants and their illegalities.
c. camilleri
May 29th 2010, 15:01
These people of Amnesty should be disregarded as they act without any responsibility. It is very easy to criticize and order things but is an other thing to be in the seat of responsibility. These people have burden our country with hundreds of refugees which we cannot accommodate in this tiny island.
J Abela
May 29th 2010, 14:52
hehe...They don't have a presence in Malta and they did all their research form London. That's all I want to hear. How can they pretend to have credibility without even knowing the real situation on the ground?
Charles Sammut
May 29th 2010, 13:46
Who finances Amnesty International? What are its real objective? In whose interest is it agitating? Who appointed them as purveyors of so called "human rights"? Nothing is absolute, not even human rights. Especially so when someone's presumed 'right' tramples on the rights of others.
These self-appointed meddlers should be expelled from Malta. They represent nobody except their own obsure sponsors. They, together with certain other NGOs, prey on the naïve minds of young people and push them in front to cover their own ulterior motives.
Instead of trying to justify his actions in the national interest, Dr Mifsud Bonnici should just do what people who elected him expect him to do. Protect them.
Emanuel Cilia Debono
May 29th 2010, 11:05
The multiplicity of inaccuracies and the lack of objective reporting by Amnesty International in regard to Malta detracts the credibility of the international organization especially in the eyes of many Maltese people.
Amnesty International seems intent on pinning the blame for loss of lives on Malta. This is grossly unrealistic and unfair. The international body should be the first to realize that the plight of irregular migrants calls for an effective stance by international bodies - like itself- at a universal level to bring about social stability and improvement in the countries of origin so as to render the flight of citizens unnecessary. There is also a crying need for international support to help the victims. Amnesty International and its local correspondents should be fully aware of the disproportionate burden Malta is having to face at present because of its geographical position.
The least one may expect from Amnesty International is to reserve some positive comments for Malta. It is manifestly unfair for that body to indulge in unjustified negative criticism which may be politically convenient for the organization, but which does more harm than good in the long term.
Evarist Saliba
May 29th 2010, 10:44
It is a pity that Amnesty Internatinal, a body with an internatinal reputation to maintain, has, by its own admission, such unreliable sources for its judgements on the performance of Malta in respect of the problem of illegal imigaration. The very fact that the report seems to harp only on perceived negative aspects is a negative reflection on the report itself.
Martin Schranz
May 29th 2010, 10:27
It is , in fact , this very statement by the Home Affairs Ministry that is "riddled with inaccuracies, misinformation and omissions with regard to Malta". The Ministry is indeed guilty as charged, as proven by hundreds of eye witness accounts. If anything this report by Amnesty International only scratches the surface of these atrocities and does not likely reflect the full horror of what happened on our land and in our seas..
Alfred Bugeja
May 29th 2010, 19:13
Martin can you say specifically what you are referring to in your comment and do you have any proof to support it? Or are you merely basing your assumptions on what the media reports, just like Amnesty International said it does?
lgalea
May 30th 2010, 08:24
The only atrocities that are being committed are by the illegal immigrants violating our laws by entering Malta illegally without any identification and find such people who defend their crimes and illegalities.
Louise Vella
May 29th 2010, 09:58
The lesson is clear. The government should stop trying to please these do-gooder NGOs because whatever you do they will always criticise you. Whatever you give them, they will always want more. In the meantime congratulations to the Maltese NGOs that are at the origin of these untruths.
lgalea
May 29th 2010, 10:34
Just expel all illegal immigrants and remove the source for these do-gooder NGOs to criticize us. As we say, "Biex teqred l-għanqbuta trid teqred il-brimba"