A draft immigration policy is to be issued for public consultation shortly, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said this evening.

Speaking in Parliament, he said that the concept of detention had to change in line with EU policy and EU court decisions. There would also be the introduction of the concept of reception.

Mr Abela said that the EU last year issued a letter of formal notice as to why the directive regarding immigration was not yet enacted. He said the government told the EU in June that the law was in the process of being discussed.

The minister said that prior to this letter of formal notice there had been other communication from the EU and Malta had never considered not adhering to the directive.

The law, he said, was aimed to bring into force the EU directive issued in 2011, with which both sides agreed.

The minister also spoke about the issue of a report on the detention facilities, saying the previous administration had been unenthusiastic to complete a report on a national detention policy for immigration.

A draft report, he said, would be finalised in a few weeks and it would be immediately published for public consultation.

He thanked the Armed Forces of Malta for the co-ordination and efforts in the issue of migration management. He also thanked the police, NGOs and the Refugees Commissioner.

“This is a human issue which involves desperate people and who risks his neck to save them is a hero," he said, adding that one could not ignore the issue of illicit human trafficking making the Mediterranean a graveyard for human exploitation.