The ECHR had ruled that Maltese detention authorities had taken too long to process the application of one migrant, while another had been subjected to degrading treatment. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Malta has still not complied with two judgments by the European Court of Human Rights a year after they were handed down, an EU-wide report has found.

The ECHR had ruled that Maltese detention authorities had taken too long to process the application of one migrant, while another had been subjected to degrading treatment while detained.

In the judgments, handed down in July 2013, the European court had ordered Malta to pay Ibrahim Suso Musa €27,000 and Aslya Aden Ahmed €33,000.

The court had ruled that the Maltese authorities took too long to determine whether Mr Suso Musa was eligible for protection and therefore his 23-month stay in detention was excessive.

Meanwhile, the court had also found that Ms Aden Ahmed received degrading treatment while in detention when, among others, she was denied access to open air and exercise for up to three months.

She even miscarried while serving a prison term.

We are witnessing efforts lately. This is definitely a move in the right direction

The court had also called for a reform of the detention process to shorten the periods and improve the conditions.

The government’s lack of compliance with the judgments was highlighted in the Asylum Information Database 2013-2014 Annual Report, published on Monday.

The document stated that at the time of writing no such measures had been taken to improve the situation.

Questions sent to the Home Affairs Ministry remained unanswered by the time of writing.

Human rights lawyer Neil Falzon, who had represented one of the migrants during the ECHR proceedings, said although the recommendations had not been entirely taken onboard there had been efforts to improve the situation.

He said over the summer period migration police had carried out a number of ad hoc inspections of detention centres and reviewed the applications of a group of migrants.

“Although the government has not completely adhered with the court’s ruling we are witnessing efforts lately. This is definitely a move in the right direction,” Dr Falzon said.

Earlier this year, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers had said it would be keeping a watchful eye on Malta until it complied with the ECHR ruling.

Last March the government had said it was still examining the court’s ruling to determine where intervention was needed and to what extent.

Government denies children are being detained

The government is contesting claims that migrant children are being detained on arrival, despite claims by NGOs.

A spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Ministry, responsible for administering detention centres, said the accusations of child detentions were “totally false”.

NGOs specialised in the field told Times of Malta on Tuesday that minors had been detained as recently as last week.

The lobbyists were reacting to an EU-wide migration report which had also claimed that underage migrants were still being detained.

Minors, some too young to fend for themselves, were sometimes being held for as long as three months, the report said. This would contrast sharply with a commitment Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had made last March when he had vowed to stop putting migrant children “in prison”.

However, the ministry spokeswoman insisted the government had upheld its commitment and all detained migrants had been certified as adults.

Further, all migrant children and their families were being taken to open centres within hours of arrival, she said.

Unaccompanied minors, on the other hand, were all being taken to Dar il-Liedna in Fgura, a small family home currently being used as an open centre. Lobbyists had also raised concerns over the decision to process migrants at the Naxxar counting hall, claiming this was still a form of detention.

Reacting to this, the spokeswoman said the counting hall was only used as a half-way house, as the migrants refused to cooperate with health and migration authorities.

“This action would not have been necessary had the migrants cooperated instantly with the authorities who were gathering information required for intelligence and safety,” she said.

Ultimately, the migrants had asked to stay at the counting hall themselves until they were medically processed, she added.