When the human rights organisation Aditus suggested granting resident migrants the right to vote and even contest local council elections, all hell broke loose. In reality, the hysterical reactions were no surprise.

For the last decade or so, the Maltese have been exposed to a system which criminalises black African migrants from the minute they land ­– they are first put behind bars and then released into a structure guaranteed to create ghettoes. Integration has remained a dirty word.

Political rhetoric has only served to fuel the misconceptions of many who see black migrants as nothing more than scroungers who should be sent back to their country.

Despite this, President Marie­Louise Coleiro Preca was right when she said that giving migrants voting rights would be jumping the gun at this stage. There are so many basic problems with regard to migrants’ rights and integration, that giving them the right to vote could backfire.

“Many people in Maltese society have not yet accepted multiculturalism. We are not ready. This would be like deciding to bake a dish of potatoes and then eating them before they are cooked,” the President said.

Ms Coleiro Preca knows the migration sector well. She knows that for every comment of tolerance we hear from her, the civil liberties and education ministers, we hear several government exponents saying the wrong thing on the subject.

When you have Malta’s special envoy to the World Tourism Organisation, Joe Grima, shooting his mouth off against migrants, when you see army and police officials posting anti-­migrant messages on social media, without any reprimand, it is enough to realise racial intolerance in Malta has become institutionalised. The ever ­growing number of Maltese who would rather see the back of black migrants at any cost are bound to use any proposal intended to help integration to foment fear. This means we need a detailed, well-planned and delicate integration policy.

The National Integration Policy by Aditus actually makes 60 recommendations, not one. It proposes the introduction of mentoring programmes for working migrants and the setting up of a consultative council that would allow migrants to dialogue with the government, among other initiatives.

While some proposals might be debatable, the report makes some very interesting recommendations. At least it’s a start to a national integration policy which has to take place sooner rather than later.

We simply cannot keep burying our heads in the sand because the problem is not going to go away. Figures released by UNHCR last Friday should be a clear wake-up call: at the end of last year, 51.2 million people had been forced from their homes worldwide. That was the highest figure since the UN began collecting numbers in the early 1950s.

It is not enough to give rich non­-EU citizens a right to a Maltese passport while ignoring immigrant workers and their children, many of whom could also contribute to our society and economy in various ways.

Fear is the greatest obstacle to integration, and the authorities need to embark on an aggressive strategy to educate the public, to explain why some foreigners seek asylum, and to reassure them that those who do not deserve protection will be sent back. Likewise, refugees and asylum seekers need to understand their obligations towards the country hosting them.

And yes, we have to reach a stage where we discuss giving migrants the right to vote and contest elections.