One of the many NGOs outraged by the Prime Minister’s threats to send a group of Somali migrants back to Libya has stepped down from the consultative council advising the Government on gay rights.

One cannot truly be pro-life and treat these persons in such a draconian manner

Aditus, a human rights organisation most vocal on immigration and gay issues, announced its resignation through a statement stressing that all human rights were universal.

“We refuse to endorse this Government’s clear preference of some rights over others, of some groups of persons over others, particularly when motives seem to be exclusively based on increasing national political mileage,” it said.

Aditus added that the silence of Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli in the face of “potential human rights violations of the worst kind” confirmed the need to distance itself from the council.

A group of 23 academics put their name to a statement supporting NGOs that campaigned for migrants to be sent back, saying “we could not stand by and watch whilst our country sent Somali migrants who braved possible death... back to Libya”. The names included Marcelline Naudi, Anna Borg, Angela Abela, Ronald Sultana, Peter Mayo and Carmel Vassallo.

Anti-abortion group Gift of Life also denounced the push-back policy. “One cannot truly be pro-life and treat these persons in such a draconian manner,” it said, describing push-backs as “extreme”.

It said the message being sent encouraged xenophobia.

The Maltese Association of Social Workers said deporting migrants in search of humanitarian protection “goes against their basic human rights” but appealed for more support from EU states.

Human Rights Watch said it was “shocking” that Malta would even consider summarily returning Somalis to Libya, “a place where migrants risk arbitrary arrest, ill treatment and forced labour”.

The Nationalist Party’s youth movement, MŻPN, said the Prime Minister preferred to be “populist” and “incite racism” rather than educate people about the relevant facts and use diplomacy to get effective cooperation.