Joseph Muscat pledged to stop young irregular immigrants being detained. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Migrant children are still in detention in Malta despite a pledge by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to end the practice, an EU-wide migration report has found.

The Asylum Information Database 2013-2014 Annual Report, published yesterday, said children were sometimes held in detention for as long as three months.

Minors, some too young to fend for themselves, were “particularly vulnerable” but were not granted access to parents or relatives, the report added.

NGOs specialising in the field, contacted by this newspaper, claimed minors had been detained as recently as last week.

Last March Dr Muscat pledged to stop putting migrant children “in prison” and vowed to develop a new structure to cater for arrivals during his Freedom Day speech.

Keeping someone at the Naxxar counting hall is still detention

NGOs had welcomed the proposal as “a much needed move in the right direction”, but the change has yet to be adopted.

Human rights lawyer Neil Falzon, from Aditus, said he was eagerly awaiting the government’s first move: “We want this pledge turned into legal action as soon as possible.”

Dr Falzon explained that there was currently no provision at law to exempt children from detention and that the normal practice was to process arrivals in controlled environments.

Asked if some discretion was put into practice, he said the situation had started to change recently.

“In previous years we had a situation where all migrants were put in detention before having their age verified. This year we have had a drastic decrease in arrivals [thanks to Italian rescue operation Mare Nostrum] so there have been instances where minors have been processed differently,” he said.

But Integra director Maria Pisani hit out at the government’s reluctance to change the situation, claiming the current policy to “detain first and ask questions later” was “obsolete”.

She said she had sent numerous requests to the government on the contentious issue but had received no reply.

“I’m speaking on behalf of all migration NGOs when I say we are willing and eager to work with the government on this,” she said.

She had been in constant communication with the Social Dialogue Ministry when Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was minister but this had changed after the Cabinet reshuffle.

Ms Pisani did concede that noticeable improvements had been made in processing unconfirmed minors. This still left a lot to be desired, she said.

Dr Falzon shared the sentiment but said his detention concerns were not limited to children.

Questioning the decision to process migrants at the Naxxar counting hall last week, he said this still constituted detention.

“Keeping someone at the Naxxar counting hall is still detention, whether at Ħal Far or the Hilton,” Dr Falzon said.