Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and 34 Labour MPs have signed up to a pledge “for dignity and against racism” put forward by a human rights organisation.

The move comes as the country grapples with a wave of xenophobic and racist remarks in the wake of the Government’s grandstanding last week when it threatened to send a group of rescued Somalis back to Libya.

Promise to avoid fuelling xenophobia, unfounded fear, crisis and panic

The pledge drafted by The People for Change Foundation, a human rights group, was presented to the political parties in Parliament. The copy circulated to the media yesterday by the Ministry for Civil Liberties included only the signatures of Government MPs, bar four who were abroad.

A week after the push-back controversy, Government MPs pledged to “adopt appropriate, accurate and sensitive language” when referring to migration in order to “avoid fuelling xenophobia, unfounded fear, crisis and moral panic”.

MPs also pledged to deal responsibly with sensitive topics relating to migrant groups and ethnic minorities to “safeguard their dignity and avoid their stigmatisation”.

Nationalist Party Whip David Agius confirmed that the Opposition parliamentary group had discussed the matter yesterday and agreed to sign up with some minor changes.

Earlier in the day, Alternattiva Demokratika urged the Prime Minister and Opposition leader to sign a joint pact against racism.

AD chairman Arnold Cassola wrote a letter to Dr Muscat and Simon Busuttil proposing that as leaders of the three established political parties, they sign a joint pact to reaffirm “the respect of all Maltese for the dignity of all people and for basic human rights”.