Abela raises eyebrows with talk of human rights convention reform

Robert Abela’s statement that Malta will be putting human rights convention reform on the agenda of its Council of Europe presidency in May has raised eyebrows. 

The Prime Minister made the commitment to several European leaders in a meeting on migration on the fringes of the EU summit held in Brussels. 

The statement came like a bolt from the blue for many within government since the priorities Malta had announced for its presidency contained no such undertaking. 

In February, Foreign Minister Ian Borg appeared in a joint press conference with Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset to outline the issues Malta will be focussing on. 

Borg had said Malta's presidency will focus on youth empowerment, the protection of children, combating violence and discrimination and safeguarding human rights. Convention reform was not on the list. 

“Saying that Malta will put convention reform on the agenda comes as a surprise but is also unthinkable because it implies fiddling with the human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined for the past 75 years,” a source close to government, who was granted anonymity to be able to speak freely, told MaltaToday. 

The Department of Information press release on the migration meeting quoted Abela saying there was agreement in the meeting on the need to hold discussions on the possibility of reforming European conventions to reflect modern-day realities. 

The DOI statement also quoted the Prime Minister saying other leaders were interested in Malta’s proposal to put this reform on the agenda of the Council of Europe when it takes over the presidency in May. 

It is unclear what ‘European conventions’ the leaders were referring to when speaking on the need for reform. But if the DOI statement reflected Abela’s words correctly, he left no room for ambiguity when referring to Malta’s presidency of the Council of Europe – the convention that matters in this forum is the European Convention of Human Rights. 

“Nobody in government knew the Prime Minister would propose reforming the human rights convention, something that is so sensitive and controversial,” the source said. 

The context within which Abela floated his proposal was a discussion on “innovative solutions” to curb irregular migration, which means outsourcing detention centres to third countries for rejected asylum seekers. The meeting was hosted by the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark and besides Abela, it was attended by the prime ministers of Czechia, Sweden and Belgium. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also present. 

The idea to outsource detention centres has been criticised by human rights organisations since it risks eroding the rights of asylum seekers.  

The Council of Europe is a pan-European body, unrelated to the EU. CoC member states have to ratify the European Convention of Human Rights to be able to join. Malta ratified the convention in January 1967. The convention will be 75-years-old in November since it was opened for signature in Rome on 4 November 1950 and remains the single most important instrument protecting human rights across Europe. 

This was the second occasion in as many months that Abela caught his own government by surprise. Last month, in Paris, Abela gave a comment to TVM in which he said Malta needed to increase its defence spending and questioned whether neutrality was being a limiting factor and whether it was time to have a discussion on the matter. 

His comments raised eyebrows with the Labour Party and during a radio interview deputy leader Alex Agius Saliba was categorical that “Labour will in no way be weakening neutrality”. 

He even attempted to interpret what Abela meant. “Robert Abela said he wanted ‘discussion’. I would have said ‘discussion to strengthen neutrality’, because that’s what he [Abela] meant,” Agius Saliba said while acknowledging that the issue had never been raised by Abela in Labour parliamentary group meetings. 

In the weeks that followed, Abela back pedalled on his words.