Editorial

The two-day national conference on irregular immigrants in which the government, the opposition and civil society generally participated, is over. Only the problems remain.

There was downright disagreement during the conference between local Red Cross representatives and the commander of the Armed Forces of Malta. As the allegations made by the former were of a very serious nature indeed, the denial of them by Brigadier Carmel Vassallo was immediate. Still, for the most part the conference was in agreement on a number of points even if the emphasis of some speakers was not that of others.

Away from detail, the general conclusions were what the public expected. There is a need for what the Prime Minister called "a just balance" between the national interest and the human rights of those who ended up in Malta as asylum seekers or irregular immigrants and for the government to commit itself in international fora to receive maximum support in its effort to deal with a problem that is too large for Malta to solve on her own.

It was agreed that the matter of detention, both in terms of its duration and quality, has to be closely re-examined. According to speakers, the time they suggested should be spent in such a state by asylum seekers and irregular immigrants varied from two months to a period shorter than the 18 months introduced last August and which Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg told the conference was "not a golden rule". There was no argument against a detention process; only that this should be swifter and that confinement in a detention area should be hygienic and comfortable.

Speakers touched upon the problem of racist attitudes and urged that this should be addressed swiftly. And it was more than understandable that the general secretaries of both the General Workers' Union and of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin condemned the employment of irregular immigrants in an exploitative manner. The GWU's Tony Zarb even expressed his concern that as a result employers were preferring to recruit immigrants instead of Maltese.

The national policy on this complex and difficult subject should be drawn up with all haste. Any policy must take into account the country's interest in its broadest sense and the tragic situation of those who make their way here, in flight from an oppressive system in their country of origin or as a consequence of being saved at sea by our armed forces. Those who have tended to see only the negative element in what may be called an immigration problem will have been heartened to learn, from Henry Frendo's contribution to the conference, that Malta accepts a far higher percentage of requests for protection, temporary or permanent, than most.

Either way, once here, these immigrants, whatever their status, need to be accommodated in a hospitable manner and their case processed as swiftly as possible. There is no reason, still less excuse, for not housing them decently or not providing them with nourishment.

The government should call upon the European Union to share what the EU itself recognises as a problem, financially and procedurally. In Malta's case the difficulties are made greater because of our size and limitations. Our resources are too finite for us to go it alone.