‘Urging people traffickers is inhumane’, Evarist Bartolo says of migrant rescue NGOs

Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo said Malta “cannot handle anymore” asylum seekers, as it continues to cope with the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country. 

Bartolo took to Facebook to pen his thoughts on the government’s decision to prevent migrant rescue charities and other vessels from bringing into Malta people rescued at sea, namely boat migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

The minister said that as most of the country is “practically stuck inside”, Malta’s resources are already overstretched. 

“Our doctors and nurses are already working inhumane shifts, while our police and army are working from morning till evening providing food supplies and enforcing our strict quarantine regulations,” he said. 

Bartolo also said that with Malta being the smallest EU state, one cannot expect the country to take the full weight of the migration crisis during a pandemic. 

He called on the EU to recognise the reality in Libya, highlighting the “racket going on in the middle of a civil war.”

READ ALSO: Alan Kurdi migrant vessel refused food and medicine

He also said that Malta has continued to assist and help those in distress under various government administrations, sometimes exceeding its legal obligations. 

“But the truth is we cannot handle anymore... When your neighbour's house is on fire, your duty is to help. When both houses are on fire, your first priority is to try to stop the fire in your house,” the foreign minister said. 

Bartolo said that he shoulders the responsibility for his statement, rejecting the “inhuman tone” used by many people. Robert Abela's government came in for scathing criticism, some internal, for allowing 60 migrants to disembark on Thursday.

Malta has made it clear that the rescue operation was the last and could no longer guarantee resources to carry out rescues.

Indirectly referring to NGO rescue boats such as the Alan Kurdi, Bartolo said that assisting and urging human traffickers at this stage, “is an inhumane act”.

“The demand is from desperate people and the suppliers are greedy human traffickers,” Bartolo said. 

On Friday, the government approved the decision not to allow migrant rescue charities to bring in people rescued at sea. 

The controversial decision mimics that taken by Italy, which struggling under the COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down the entire country, is refusing to allow rescued migrants in its ports.

“We have taken a unanimous decision, our plan has three principles: our ports do not offer a safe port of entry for migrants; we will not allow migrants into Malta; we cannot guarantee their rescue,” Abela said on Good Friday.

READ ALSO: Malta Cabinet declares island is no longer ‘safe port for asylum seekers’