From different pasts to a shared future
World Refugee Day, which was marked yesterday, aims to highlight the plight of people all over the world who are forced to flee their homes fearing persecution.
This year’s commemoration found this tiny, centrally-located island preoccupied about a potentially very serious new wave of Mediterranean boat people, knocking louder on the doors of the EU and individual European countries.
Such a situation further raises the hope that there will be more solidarity in burden responsibility sharing vis-à-vis people in need of international protection. It also calls for stronger EU cooperation with the new Libyan government in its efforts to deal with the migration phenomenon over its borders.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees must bolster its operational presence in Libya too.
At the same time, Malta is focusing all the more on seeing that its reception and detention facilities provide the best possible dignified welcome and stay for migrants arriving here despite its limitations and rising pressures. he issue of integration also needs to be addressed through enhanced policies and action.
The sentiment of the Maltese community, as a whole, is in favour of standing up for people in need of protection and help. Yet, when it comes to discussing how the country should respond to the migration phenomenon, different perspectives crop up, which, sometimes, are far from encouraging.
A recent EU-wide survey, for instance, indicated that 56 per cent of Maltese respondents admitted that migrants were not integrating in society because they were being discriminated against.
There are other reasons behind the lack of integration, including the undeniable fact that the large majority of the migrants reaching Malta consider their stay here only as a stepping stone towards their European or American dream.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that many members of today’s community fail to understand the benefits of immigration. Indeed, when asked whether immigration enriched Malta’s economy and cultural diversity, 55 per cent of the 500 respondents in the survey said they did not, though 32 per cent did recognise the benefits of migration.
Various efforts are already in hand to address misconceptions related to integration and to show the benefits of a properly organised and coordinated policy. Nonetheless, at school level, where the new generations are meant to also receive a good formation on how to truly live certain basic values, such as the respect for the rights and dignity of other people, whoever they may be and whatever their culture or belief, there seems to be a need of an urgent review.
One wake-up call in this direction emerged during a seminar aimed at enhancing school leaders’ cultural sensitivity held recently by the Malta Society for Education, Administration and Management. The event recognised that children from different cultures through mixed marriages, foreign adoption and irregular immigration have become a permanent feature of Maltese schools.
A teacher who researched the ethnic composition of classrooms and the perceptions of multi-ethnic students on aspects of the Maltese educational system argued that there is need for a major rethinking of the very core values upon which Malta’s schools are built.
An infusion of multiculturalism into the fabric of the schools and the rethinking of the content and process of curriculum and instruction were also required, the study concluded.
Such a call deserves immediate attention if this country wants its future adults to understand that, whatever the past of the people they meet in their life, they can always share the future with them.
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Jesmond Micallef
Jun 21st 2012, 18:04
One form of help in integrating these individuals is that of reading the local Maltese newspapers. Are these people supported in this regard ? Accessibility to the internet is surely not a problem.
Furthermore, most of the schools and colleges in Malta are named after saints. Does this reflect a dominant and single religious culture in Malta ?
What about political participation of the migrant people ? Is there the neccessary infrastructure available in order to expose and promote this ? Surely this will provide a platform in the form of promoting role models to the community of migrant people.
Anyway, good luck to all.
GL Calleja
Jun 21st 2012, 15:28
Why do some NGOs keep trying to integrate us? You cannot force integration. Why not let it happen on its' own. That is like forcing someone to become Catholic, or Islamic or make them join a Cult Club. I say stick to your believes and let me stick to mine.
Louise Vella
Jun 21st 2012, 12:31
You write “the UNHCR must bolster its operational presence in Libya too”. Perhaps. But the Libyans were not born yesterday. They see how UNHCR has been treating Malta as a refugee colony and they will not let it in and give it “a free rein” in their country. UNHCR’s behaviour in Malta is a warning to other countries. Remember the behaviour of UNHCR representative Michele Manca de Nissa during the riots at the detention centre in Hal Far. Remember the behaviour of UNHCR representative Neil Falzon trying to force the Maltese government to take the illegal immigrants on the Spanish trawler. Remember of the arrogance of Laura Boldrini and Jon Hoisaeter, the latter taking Malta for a rich under-populated country like his native Norway. Is all this meant to encourage Libya to admit UNHCR in its midst?
Louise Vella
Jun 21st 2012, 12:09
How can you speak of a “shared future” if you admit that the large majority of the illegal immigrants “reaching Malta consider their stay here only as a stepping stone towards their European or American dream”? And are you sure that “Malta is focusing … on seeing that its reception and detention facilities provide the best possible welcome”. This is a surprising statement because it sounds as if we are all (“Malta”) waiting with bated breath to “welcome” the boatloads. I think most Maltese look on the arrival of every boat as very bad news because it is a new burden on Malta which most European countries refuse to share with us.
Louise Vella
Jun 21st 2012, 09:39
II
You write that the illegal immigrants come “knocking on the doors of the EU and individual European countries”. We must not forget that the EU has unemployment of over 10% and does not need more people to add to its unemployed and compete with them for jobs. Besides illegal immigrants in Malta are very choosy. Nigerian Lucky Okocha Achebe wrote: “Half of the pledges made by Europeans last year were failed. Because all Somalians and Eritreans refused to be resettled in Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, Latvia and other east European countries.” See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120607/local/migration-malta-calls-for-solidarity-review-of-dublin-treaty.423240
He added: “We all have signed to be resettled to wherever, when we had our interview for our asylum applications… The problem is UNHCR is giving those people second chances rather than reporting them to the authorities. In that case their protection can't be revoked for further decisions. The concerned authority should work with the UNHCR to avoid these waste of resource (opportunity).” See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120619/local/asylum-granted-to-more-than-half-of-last-year-s-applicants.425055
Louise Vella
Jun 21st 2012, 09:38
I
You write about refugees “who are forced to flee their home fearing persecution”. It has long been shown that most of the boat people are economic migrants. In the case of Eritreans we have been informed by Nigerian Lucky Okocha Achebe: “who says Eritrea is a war zone? Every Eritrean immigrant proudly talks how their president walks from his office to his home without security personnel. Almost all of them pay 2% of what they annually earned to the government even from Malta. So how can you justify asylum for these people? What about the hundreds of Somaliland nationals? See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120620/local/Malta-tops-asylum-recognition-rates.425100
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