Migration is the biggest human rights challenge Malta is facing and the country needs to act “decisively and innovatively” to avert more tragedies in the Mediterranean, the President said yesterday.
President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said the nature of the tragedies around the Mediterranean warranted a comprehensive response.
“Migration, and the way in which Malta and its European counterparts deal with it, is a true indicator of the human rights situation we experience today,” she said.
Addressing a conference on the launch of a report by the Platform of Human Rights Organisations Malta (PHROM), she took a stand against the policy of arbitrary detention, including it in a list of human rights challenges faced by the country.
“The tragic loss of life, the disregard of untold hardship, abuse, passivity and inaction, arbitrary detention, exclusionary migration policies are just a few elements that must underpin any evaluation of human rights, because these are part of the biggest human rights challenge we have in Malta today,” she said, saluting the work of NGOs in raising awareness and monitoring the human rights’ situation in the country.
The way we deal with migration is an indicator of our human rights situation
The report by PHROM is based on face-to-face interviews with 20 member organisations and highlights the challenges and achievements in the field of human rights last year.
Last year was marked by the country’s legal recognition of same-sex relationships. Other major developments included the reinforcement of the rights of those with mental health issues, discussions on reforming the mandatory migrant detention policy and further national implementation of the UN Disability Convention and of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women.
Migration was also at the top of the agenda. The report also stresses the difficulties faced by migrants and refugees in having their human dignity recognised and protected.
The launch of the report included a debate on its main findings between representatives from different sectors – academia, law, government and the media.
Law professor Peter Xuereb spoke of the need for greater enforcement of laws and access to justice. He pointed to the equality commission, the NCPE, which will launch a report on the overview of its work today: “How is it that the more the NCPE grows the fewer complaints it seems to receive?”
The platform stressed that the relative sense of security generated by apparently strong legal and institutional structures could render the nation blind and insensitive to the real and urgent problems faced by minority groups and people living on the margins of society.
The platform’s first report also stressed the need to avoid the risk of ignoring the pressing human rights concerns in the sectors of disability and the environment.
The report presents a list of policy recommendations, starting with the need for policies and discourse to adopt a rights-based approach rather than approaching issues based on charity or pity.