Migrants' disturbance shows "unsuitability of arrangements for detainees"

Last Tuesday's rampage by illegal immigrants at police headquarters illustrated the unsuitability of the current arrangements for detainees, according to Jesuit Refugee Service assistant director Katrine Camilleri.

"For people who have committed no crime, detention in itself is frustrating. It is made indefinitely worse by the appalling physical conditions in which detainees in the centre are kept, deprived of basic necessities and of information about proceedings on which their future depends.

"However, much as we are aware of the situation, we can never condone acts of violence," Dr Camilleri said.

Six illegal immigrants were charged in court yesterday in connection with the violent incidents in which a policeman was injured.

JRS, together with the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, has published a book focusing on the detention of asylum seekers on the occasion of World Refugees Day, being marked today.

Based on stories of people who asked for refuge in Malta or abroad, Id-Detenzjoni ghoddha qerditli ruhi claims that mandatory detention breaches fundamental human rights and draws attention to the harm and stigmatisation suffered by detainees.

"We felt the need to give detainees an opportunity to tell others what indefinite detention does to them and to question publicly the justice of their imprisonment as well as the efficiency of a system which leaves them behind bars for months pending the outcome of their application for refugee status and sometimes even after they have been recognised as refugees," JRS Malta director Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat said.

He hoped the publication would bring the Maltese people closer to understanding the reality faced by detained asylum seekers and encourage them to act on their behalf.

The book addresses not only the plight of asylum seekers but also the obligations of the state and people who receive them.

Around 600 people are currently being detained and JRS is insisting that mandatory detention should be avoided at all costs while alternatives should be found to house asylum seekers and refugees.

JRS said it welcomed the recent government decision to convert a detention facility into an 'open centre' for 50 people already granted refugee status or humanitarian protection.

Scores of refugees had been granted protection in recent months but were kept in detention because they had nowhere to live in the community. Those living at the centre will be free to go in and out as they please.

The open centre will go some way to remedying the injustice suffered by recognised refugees, but this was only a partial solution because more than 100 refugees and others granted protection have still not been released, said Dr Camilleri.

Id-Detenzjoni ghoddha qerditli ruhi sets detention of asylum seekers in Malta in the context of the global crisis. Reasons why asylum seekers leave their country are explained in the words of the asylum seekers themselves.

Copies may be obtained free of charge. However, donations towards printing costs would be appreciated.

Requests should be sent to Fr Grech Marguerat or Danielle Vella at JRS Malta, Loyola House, Marquis Scicluna Street, Naxxar, to jrsmalta@waldonet.net.mt or by phoning 2141 3322.