A group of migrants at risk of deportation should be allowed "continue to live and work productively as they have been doing", President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said today.
Saying that she could not reassure them of anything else, the President however noted that social justice should allow such people to remain in Malta and continue contributing to the society.
The President was addressing a group of people from all walks of life and of different creed – including academics, NGOs – at San Anton Palace.
READ: Silent walk in solidarity with migrants
The group asked the President to urge the authorities to allow migrants with a THPn status to continue enjoying their limited benefits.
The Temporary Humanitarian Protection – New Status for rejected asylum seekers, known as THPn, will be halted as from this November.
The group also asked Ms Coleiro Preca to intervene for the release of the nine Malian men who have been in detention for 67 days. President Coleiro-Preca had previously used her Republic Day speech to express unease at the way the group was being treated.
Speaking on their behalf, Head of the Department for Inclusion and Access to Learning, Colin Calleja insisted that it was an almost impossible feat for undocumented migrants to procure a passport from their country of origin, which is the requirement for remaining in Malta come November.
“Most of the migrants that have this status have successfully integrated in our society. They are contributors to our economy and well-being. They have children born in Malta.
“They formed families and built friendships. It is therefore unfair to put such people who have worked hard to integrate into Maltese society in such a vulnerable situation and to instil in them fear and a sense of insecurity,” he said.
Most of the migrants that have this status have successfully integrated in our society. They are contributors to our economy and well-being
His address was followed by that of two migrants – Ali Konate and Innocent Lokri – whose “future is unclear”, as the latter put it.
Mr Lokri is a father of three, and works day and night to sustain the “joys of his life” - his children.
The man at one point fell to his knees, pleading with the President to intervene.
It did not matter whether he died, but he was fearful about his children’s future, he said.
“We might have come to Malta illegally, but it’s not our children’s fault.”
Visibly moved, Ms Coleiro Preca told those present that the lack of respect for human dignity and human rights was widespread and international humanitarian law was being poorly observed.
“I want to hereby register my dismay and disappointment at how our brothers and sisters are being treated in many parts of the world.
“In what is being referred to as a post-truth historical moment, an era marked by falsehood, the rise of populism and the intensification of territorialism, such a gathering today might be perceived as a marginal and peripheral act of defiance to authority.”
Ms Coleiro Preca insisted that treating each other with dignity was the only viable way forward to a sustainable and peaceful world.
“Social justice and solidarity applied to this particular case dictates that retention replaces detention, that our sisters and brothers continue to live and work productively as they have been doing, some of them for a good number of years,” she said.
If solidarity began at home, may I call upon you to stand up and be counted, she said, adding: “I cannot reassure you of anything, but what I can reassure you is that my solidarity and support will be completely there, now and in the future.”