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Kurt Sansone catches up with Fr Dionysius Mintoff at the national conference on irregular immigration
The national conference to discuss irregular immigration was an attempt to manipulate non-governmental organisations according to Peace Lab director Fr Dionysius Mintoff.
The 75-year old friar whose organisation shelters asylum seekers at its Hal Far base takes umbrage at the very limited time NGOs were afforded in the national conference and the lack of the conference to address the core issue of detention.
“Our time was hijacked by a bevy of politicians, ministry employees, government agency representatives and others totally unconnected to the plight of irregular immigrants. The conference just churned out the usual arguments without delving into the serious human rights shortcomings present in the policy document drawn up by Government to be discussed at the national conference,” a sour Fr Dionysius says.
“I cannot understand how the theme of workshop number two departed from the agenda as handed out to the NGOs. We were supposed to discuss open centres and integration and just before the start of the workshop we were informed that the theme had changed to minor immigrants. When I protested about this nobody could give me an answer. For some reason or another the conference failed to discuss the conditions of both closed and open centres, something the Peace Lab was ready to do,” Fr Dionysius laments.
Four days after the conference he remains without an answer.
But more serious than the lack of time afforded to NGOs, Fr Dionysius says the policy document published by Government fails to address the two contentious issues that are causing a lot of distress among asylum seekers.
“Government’s document, which also has the Labour Party’s approval, speaks of detention as a rule and we at the Peace Lab oppose this policy line,” Fr Dionysius says.
Drawing inspiration from the conclusions of the United Kingdom Episcopal Conference, Fr Dionysius says that it is unacceptable for the authorities to simply resort to “mass deprivation of liberty” to tackle the issue of irregular immigration. He insists that despite the economic pressures irregular immigrants may put on Malta’s limited resources, the authorities’ duty to offer protection should “predominate over any other consideration.”
Fr Dionysius contrasts the Peace Lab’s position with that of the Emigrant’s Commission and the Jesuit Refugee Service. “While the Emigrant’s Commission favours mandatory detention of not more than three months, the Jesuit Refugee Service wants a maximum detention of not more than two months. We at the Peace Lab believe that there should not be mandatory detention.
“The UK Episcopal Conference has recently urged the British Government to end mandatory detention for irregular migrants. In principle asylum seekers should not be detained because of their presumed vulnerability as victims of abuses in their countries. Detention can be resorted to only in individual exceptional cases and solely on exceptional grounds.”
Fr Dionysius argues that Government’s draft proposal talks of detention as a routine and for a time period of at least 18 months. He says this is unacceptable.
“Another serious shortcoming in the draft policy is its lack to address the gross breach of human rights perpetrated by the Refugee Appeals board. Any asylum seeker whose application is refused has a right to appeal. Most appeals are rejected and the Appeals Board is not bound by law to give an explanation for its rejection. This is a breach of a person’s fundamental human rights and unfortunately the policy presented by Government does not tackle the issue,” Fr Dionysius says.
He raises a number of questions, which he wants answers to. “What have the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party done to raise the immigration issue and its impact on Malta with their counterparts in Europe, the People’s Party and the European Socialists?”
During the conference lawyer George Abela asked why the UNHCR and Amnesty International were not invited for the conference. Fr Dionysius concurs. “Why was Dr Abela not given an answer? Surely the UNHCR and Amnesty International could have contributed positively to the debate.”
Fr Dionysius feels the Church has been too silent in front of the daily ordeals asylum seekers have to face in detention. “Mons. Philip Calleja, who also heads the Emigrant’s Commission was there as a representative of the Church. It perturbed me to hear him say that he was satisfied with the situation. I wonder whether he was expressing satisfaction at the horrid conditions of the detention camps,” Fr Dionysius muses.
For this friar even if the conditions of detention centres are improved the deprivation of liberty is too hard to swallow. He insists that a policy document is clear and significant only if the statements in it are accompanied by clear indications about their implementation. Unfortunately, Fr Dionysius feels that the policy document that also draws on the support of the Labour Party does not go far enough to address irregular immigration in a humanitarian way.
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