Malta has welcomed the support for the burden sharing concept shown by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights but regrets that the commissioner seemed to ignore “key factors” which affected the country’s migration policy.

In a statement issued this evening in reply to Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg statement published this morning, the ministry noted that Mr Hammarberg had reiterated the need for the adoption of a “collegial approach…on the part of other European states, by accepting to host some of the persons to whom Malta has rightly accorded international protection.”

However, some of the initial reactions pursuant to the Commissioner’s Malta visit earlier this month seemed to have been ignored.

“The press statement (issued by Mr Hammarberg) seem to ignore certain key factors about the country that have had, and as we are seeing, still has a considerable influence not only on its migration policy, but also on the unfolding of the local migration scenario.

“These factors include Malta’s size - which at just 316 square kilometres makes it the smallest EU member state, its population of circa 410,000, and its population density, which at around 1,300 per square kilometre is the highest in Europe. Coupled with these factors is a small labour market prone to saturation,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that whereas a number of EU states, particularly France and Germany, as well as the United States assisted Malta by means of the resettlement of beneficiaries of international protection, Malta was still under considerable pressure coming from the people who arrived here in previous years and those who would be arriving in the coming days.

“The Maltese authorities are not in agreement with Mr Hammarberg’s views with respect to Malta’s detention policy, given that this is in fact compliant with Malta’s EU and other international obligations.

“As a matter of fact, the European Convention on Human Rights does not rule out detention,” it said.

The ministry noted that the Maltese authorities were not presently considering reviewing the country’s detention policy.

“The detention policy and the period of detention are not meant to penalise the immigrants since this is purely a security measure which is also meant to facilitate the repatriation of those immigrants who do not qualify for international protection,” the ministry said.

It noted that notwithstanding the fact that the maximum duration of detention was 18 months, this was reduced to 12 months in the case of asylum seekers.

“Furthermore, in view of the investments made in the Office of the Refugee Commissioner, Malta’s asylum determination authority, on average asylum cases are determined within six months, which of course means that genuine asylum seekers generally do not spend more than six months in detention.”

The ministry said that unlike the impression given in Mr Hammarberg’s statement, the Open Centres were never intended to provide long-term accommodation, but rather offer shelter only until such time as the migrants could find suitable independent accommodation.

“Moreover, although it is recognised that material conditions at the centres would, in certain cases, benefit from improvement, current conditions are a direct result of the fact over the past few years the centres have practically always been at full capacity and beyond, making refurbishment of certain facilities difficult, if not impossible.

“Moreover, significant numbers of immigrants have been allowed to remain at the centres for prolonged periods, as they could not find independent accommodation. This has resulted in crowding, yet the alternative would have been to send immigrants out to live in the streets. This was not, and is still not considered, a suitable alternative.”

The ministry said that the fact that significant numbers of migrants did not manage to move out of the centres was the result of these circumstances in the country, including its small labour market, which placed severe limitations on integration efforts.

The fact that there has been a significant reduction in the number of migrant arrivals over 2010 alleviated such pressures, as attested by the increase in the number of beneficiaries of international protection between the end of 2009 and this year, as well as by the continued presence of illegal migrants who could not, for one reason or other, be returned to their countries of origin.

“With respect to durable solutions for beneficiaries of international protection, despite all our best intentions it is considered that Malta cannot integrate the large number of immigrants present on the island. Significant resettlement efforts, particularly by the EU Member States, are still required.

“Notwithstanding this, the Maltese authorities have by no means ignored integration efforts. As a matter of fact the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS) sought and was awarded EU funding for projects that assist with giving refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection services as well as training, including in respect of employability.”

With respect to Malta’s efforts against racism and xenophobia, the ministry said that further to recent legislative amendments, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) was currently implementing the EU co-funded project which aimed to enhancing the principle of equal treatment on the six grounds of discrimination, including race, as well as multiple discrimination.

This project sought to implement further legislation on non-discrimination through awareness raising, training, and research; and to disseminate information on EU and national policy and legislation in the non-discrimination field.

“It is considered that all the factors should have been acknowledged in Mr. Hammarberg’s statement, and they certainly should be seriously considered in his final report, which is expected to present a realistic picture of the situation in Malta as opposed to the detached view portrayed in this statement.

“Finally the ministry also looks forward to concrete supportive actions from Mr Hammarberg following his recognition of the need for burden sharing and solidarity on matters related to asylum and immigration in Malta’s case,” it said.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110328/local/malta-should-move-away-from-reactive-approach-to-migration

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.