Malta’s 18-month mandatory detention should remain unchanged despite criticism by the European Court of Human Rights, political leaders agreed yesterday.
Speaking in interviews on their party radio stations, One and 101, the PL and PN leaders insisted the policy did not need changing.
“The country’s detention policy will remain as it is today,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said that, even though the detention period was close to the maximum allowed by EU law, he felt emphasis should be put on improving the conditions of detention facilities and not on reducing the detention period.
He pointed out that, in practice, most migrants left detention within six months or fewer.
“The system should not be changed. An investment of nearly €7 million was made but this needs to be continued and increased,” Dr Busuttil said.
Their comments come in the wake of two damning judgments by the European Court of Human Rights last week that lambasted the Government’s “defective” detention policy.
In one of the judgments, in which Malta was found guilty of breaching the rights of a group of Somali migrants, the ECHR said it “cannot consider a period of six months of detention to be reasonable” particularly when coupled with “inappropriate conditions”.
Referring to these, Dr Muscat said he would continue to defend the national interest and clear Malta’s “humanitarian reputation”.
“We are seeing whether there are grounds for appeal to clear Malta’s name on this issue,” he said.
Dr Busuttil also spoke of Malta’s international standing and argued that the Prime Minister’s “brash” plans to deport a group of Somalis without giving them the right to ask for asylum had damaged the island’s reputation.
“I have contacts within the EU. I know what I’m saying when I declare that this has damaged our reputation,” Dr Busuttil said, arguing that Dr Muscat’s move had also fanned xenophobic sentiments without reason.
“I am not saying that Joseph Muscat told people to be racist but it is the duty of the Prime Minister to calm people down,” he said.
Despite the different stands on this point, however, both party leaders agreed that talks between the EU and the Libyan government could provide a tangible solution to irregular migration.
“The ultimate aim is to have Libya implement the Geneva Convention. However, this isn’t a tap that can be closed just like that. This is a situation that needs to be managed,” Dr Busuttil.
Asked what concrete measures he would implement if he were in Dr Muscat’s position, Dr Busuttil said he would focus on increasing Malta’s intra-EU resettlement programme (Eurema), which is specifically designed for Malta, and on increasing dialogue between the EU, Libya and other sub-Saharan states.
“The absorption of migrants through (Eurema) hasn’t been enough. But this government did not ask for this and instead it went for the panic button” Dr Busuttil said.