The allegation by the International Detention Coalition that Malta holds under-age migrants in detention for prolonged periods of time is a complete fabrication, the Home Affairs Ministry said this afternoon.
Referring to a report Captured Childhood by the International Detention Coalition, which was given prominence in Australian media today, the ministry said that:
"Although Malta pursues a policy of detention with respect to those entering the country illegally, such policy is not applied without regard to humanitarian considerations.
"As a matter of fact vulnerable persons, including all minors, are not subject to the detention requirement.
"The freedom of such persons is restricted only until such time as the relevant medical clearance is obtained.
"Once such clearance is obtained, usually in a matter of days, minors are housed in apposite Open Centres with their family members, whereas if unaccompanied, they are housed in apposite centres for minors.
"Unaccompanied minors are also issued with a Care Order in accordance with national legislation."
The ministry said that unfortunately, there were border line cases when the precise age of any person could not be immediately determined, or when the minor did not declare him or herself as such.
There were also instances where persons declared themselves to be minors and were found not to be such.
"Notwithstanding such difficulties, the Maltese authorities continue to make every effort to ensure that minors are accorded the protection and services they require," the ministry said.
The International Detention Coalition's report, which calls for the detention of child immigrants to be outlawed, highlights the plight of a 16-year-old Sudanese boy arrested for two months in Malta. The report
It reports how the boy sat in the corner of a Maltese detention centre, weeping.
He had fled his war torn country after seeing his sisters raped and his father and brother killed.
"Five months on the run through Chad and Libya had brought him - alone, frightened and uncertain - to a strange land," the AAP reported.
IDC researcher David Corlett said the boy's story and those of other children interviewed were harrowing.
"He just described sitting in a corner (of the detention centre) weeping," Dr Corlett told AAP.
"So this young man in a period of about five months had just had his whole world spun upside down and the end result was to be put in detention, having committed no crime, having just fled for his life."
The Captured Childhood report calls for nations to develop laws and practices that ensure asylum-seeker and refugee children are free to reside in the community while their cases are assessed.
So this young man in a period of about five months had just had his whole world spun upside down and the end result was to be put in detention, having committed no crime, having just fled for his life
The children interviewed were detained in countries including Malta, Greece, Hungary, the United States, Malaysia and Australia, in facilities ranging from jail cells to purpose-built facilities.
The report says some were "incarcerated in squalor, placing them at risk of illness and disease", while others were "kept in circumstances that seem designed to isolate and humiliate them".
Kumar, 11, Mahela, 10 and Lasith, 8, fled Sri Lanka with their parents and were detained in Malaysia.
The report describes how they were made to strip naked and squat and stand repeatedly while they were checked for unauthorised possessions.
"If they stopped squatting and standing, they were hit with a stick."
The report says immigration detention has a profoundly negative impact on children's physical and psychological development, placing them at risk of depression, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, bed-wetting and feelings of hopelessness and frustration.
It says reasons for detaining children range from deterrence to others, to identity checking and health screening and that these are unacceptable justifications.
"The detention of children is a denial of their fundamental right to liberty," it states.
The report calls for child immigration detention to be outlawed in all countries. Instead, it says, children should be placed in the community and be protected and supported while their cases are assessed.
Parents travelling with children should be placed in the community with their children, it says.
"Children shouldn't be kept in detention. There are more humane, more effective and cheaper ways of managing migration than detaining children," Dr Corlett said.
The report is being presented in Geneva to the United Nations Human Rights Council, as the basis of a year-long Children Out of Immigration Detention campaign.