Religious leaders in Malta today prayed at the mosque on the occasion of World Refugee Day.

“We pray for our political leaders, that they may implement policies that allow for safe migration and just migrant working conditions, and put an end to the detention of asylum seekers while  protecting our national safety.”

They also prayed for just working conditions for migrant workers and for the protection of unaccompanied refugee children.

Imam Mohammed El Sadi appealed to the government to review its detention policy or shorten the period of detention as much as possible as it did not serve the welfare of migrants.

“Those who do not welcome and show respect to migrants should put themselves in the shoes of migrants and ask themselves if they would like to be treated unkindly… Migrants should be grateful to the host country, be law abiding and respect the culture of the host country.

Auxiliary bishop Mgr Charles Scicluna said “it is only when we start treating migrants as humans that we can come up with the right policies.”

He said: “we are all human irrelevant of faith and country of origin. The golden rule is to treat others as we want to be treated.”