Malta will take onboard recommendations by international organisations on the reception of migrant children, however health and public security issues will not be waived, Minister Manuel Mallia said this afternoon.
“Unaccompanied migrants will be given the support they require, but we feel public security and health issues are paramount and we need to strike a balance between the migrants’ and national interests,” Dr Mallia said.
The minister was speaking at the launch of a report by the International Organisation for Migration and UNHCR that recommends alternatives to detention of unaccompanied migrants and refugee children in Malta.
Among others, the report says Malta should set up a permanent inter-ministerial task force to include international organisations like IOM and UNHCR and NGOs on a consultative basis.
In collaboration with the Church, Malta should also set up a new First Reception Centre for children where they are given psycho-social support. This centre would facilitate age assessment, counselling and information about family reunification.
Launched at the San Anton Palace, the report is according to President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca a renewal of the collaboration with these international organisations that could alleviate pressure from the social services while keeping in mind the migrants’ wellbeing.
“These are our children too... may they develop their full potential in their host countries and become stakeholders for peace in their countries of origin,” she said, urging migrants to participate more.
Speaking at the same launch, Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne echoed the president’s words, adding that migrant children were treated “as if they were our own”.
These children were not only vulnerable because of their age, but there was also the language and cultural barrier, he noted.
Meanwhile, IOM’s Director General William Lacy Swing pledged the organisations’ support.
“We are ready to move from words to action as quickly as possible. We don't have a plan for you but resources that we can put at your disposal.
“If we are going to succeed by putting into place a migration framework that takes into consideration the country's and the migrants’ interests, we also have to address the issue of the current discourse about migration which is negative,” he said.
At the same time, however, migration was historically positive and there was currently an unprecedented human mobility. At least one out of every seven people was displaced.
“We don't see migration as a problem to be solved but a challenge to be accepted and addressed in a positive way,” he said after thanking the President for bringing the stakeholders together, the Prime Minister for calling for an end to the detention of children, and the Maltese for their patience in the past years.