The Moviment Patrijotti Maltin (MPM) filed a judicial protest against the government and the Attorney General over Malta’s endorsement of the Global Compact for Migration.
In its protest filed on Wednesday, Henry Battistino and Simon Borg argued that the public was not consulted about the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration before the island backed it.
The protest was filed against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela and the AG.
The CGM sets out a common approach to international migration. Among others, it aims at cooperation between states and promotes measures to strengthen regular migration pathways, tackle irregular migration, and protect the human rights of migrants.
The MPM noted that Mr Abela had acknowledged the non-binding nature of the Compact, which in itself reaffirmed the sovereign right of each state to determine its own migration policy.
The MPM said it had nothing against refugees, but it opposed human trafficking, racism and xenophobia.
It was also against migration in small countries such as Malta, which led to density and environment problems, high rents that were unsustainable for Maltese families, poor working conditions for the Maltese on minimum wage and security issues among other “grievous problems”.
They said this went against Article 9 of the Constitution, which called on the state to safeguard the landscape and the historical and artistic patrimony of the nation, while conserving the environment and its resources.
The MPM said Maltese citizens were facing such difficulties because of uncontrolled migration in a country that was already facing a huge over-population problem.
The group believed that the CGM would serve as a basis for other migration treaties and declarations, paving the way for signatories to accept more migrants.
The CGM dealt with the economic aspect of migration and ignored cultural difficulties, the group believed. The government, it said, had not laid down concrete measures on how it intended to curb illegal migration.
The Compact was the prelude to declaring immigration a human right. This would mean that no country would be able to block migrants from entering and settling down in its territory, according to MPM.
Its non-legally binding nature did not preclude the Compact from having long-term effects in terms of treaties, conventions and interpretation of international law, MPM insisted, calling on the government to discuss and vote on the Compact in Parliament.
The group declared that it was against Malta’s endorsement of the Compact because of the ambiguity of parts of its text and also because it was not in the interest of Malta and its citizens. If Malta already signed the compact, it should withdraw, MPM appealed in its protest.