For critics of the government’s detention policy concerning all illegal immigrants landing on our shores, the violent death of a Malian immigrant last week was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Armed Forces personnel should be filtered to ensure that those who have an inherent racist bias are given other duties- Michael Falzon

I have gone on record saying I agree with this policy as I feel that in our small society it does not make sense for government to abdicate from its duty to monitor what is going on in our country and using the detention period to enable the authorities to discern the different situations of the different immigrants makes sense.

Some immigrants could possibly be sent safely back to their country of origin, some are genuine asylum seekers as a result of the troubled political situations in their countries, and others are just trying to seek new economic pastures. A period of time for these different situations to become clearer before the immigrants are allowed to roam freely in our society seems to be a reasonable approach.

Yet this is all poppycock for the few dedicated volunteers who come in touch with the reality of our detention system. Many insist that the way this system works (or does not work) is so shameful that it can never be justified.

Serious studies have shown, for example, the existence of high levels of mental health problems in detainees including anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders such as self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Moreover, the length of the time in detention seems to have an effect on the severity of distress with the negative impact persisting even after the detention is over.

In other words, the detention system jeopardises the mental health of the detainees. This does not just apply to Malta’s system, of course. Studies in other European countries and in Australia have also confirmed this trend. Indeed, while there is now an 18 month maximum period for detention of illegal immigrants in Malta, Australia detains asylum seekers indefinitely.

In practice, the length of the detention period in Malta depends on many factors, including an assessment of the ease with which people from different ethnic backgrounds and different language skills can be assimilated in Maltese society. Yet it is now becoming more obvious this is not enough.

First and foremost, it does seem that the Armed Forces personnel and other state employees whose duties put them in direct contact with detained immigrants are not being prepared properly for their tasks.

These personnel should also be filtered to ensure that those who have an inherent racist bias are given other duties. There are established psychological tests that can help filter out those whose mental set-up is so warped from a racist perspective that it would be better if they are given tasks that exclude direct contact with African immigrants.

Those who are not so excluded should be trained on how to deal with distressed people. Detention provokes a reaction against the system and this reaction is often expressed by hostility against those who are perceived to represent the system.

Those dealing with these situations must be trained to understand that a certain amount of resentment is a natural consequence of the state of affairs and consider it as such, rather than as some personal affront. In other words, they have to be trained to avoid becoming emotionally involved in the emotions exhibited by the detainees.

Unfortunately, as far as I can understand, the authorities are doing nothing of the sort.

There will be, of course, those who will say that the country should not spend money on this problem, the result of a mentality that refuses to accept that our respect for humanity itself, let alone human rights, cannot be restricted to fellow Maltese or Europeans. This is nothing but racial prejudice that shames all those who embrace it – not just in Malta but all over the world.

In this scenario, the attitude of our political and religious leaders is very important. The Prime Minister – with all his problems, self-wrought or otherwise – has always assumed the moral high ground on this issue. Unfortunately, his positive attitude has not filtered down all the state structures to ensure that the authorities take the necessary measures, some of which I have outlined.

It is a pity that in this issue, the chances of a bipartisan policy is not as good as one would wish, since the Labour Party sometimes tends to speak in a manner blatantly meant to lure the vote of the racially prejudiced.

As socialist ideology abhors such stances, I tend to suspect that this is just a shameful vote-catching ploy: one that keeps Joseph Muscat from being clear and unambiguous in his condemnation of racism.

And it had to be this recent death that provoked our Church leaders to say something about this issue. Previously they seemed to be more interested on what people do in the bedroom than in how the faithful respect and love their ‘brothers in Christ’ who happen to have a different coloured skin and who were born in unfortunate circumstances.

micfal@maltanet.net.