War, poverty, family reunification and overpopulation are just few phenomena that cause people, whether documented or not, to leave their homeland. The term ‘homeland’ is purposefully used. The late Maurice Abela used to teach us demography, and he used to argue that the pain caused by migration is second only to the death of a loved one.
Last week’s Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum focused on the theme “Voices of Peace in a World at War”. Hardly had the prayers ended when the news went viral that violence had in erupted in Tel Aviv, against a backdrop of fear of escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The voices of peace were not spared a minute!
During this prayer, a migrant from West Africa mentioned Malta in this unflattering way: “I worked to pay for another crossing. This was the sixth time; after three days at sea, I reached Malta. I stayed in a centre for six months and there I lost my mind. Every night I asked God why: why should people like ourselves consider us enemies?”
Forced migration is not only a humanitarian, social and economic issue; it is primarily a political one. Humanity seems bent to prove George Orwell right when he wrote “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others”. Let’s take our country. We have a minister for (agriculture, fisheries and) animal rights. The Animal Rights Ministry is strongly organised, with Veterinary Regulation Directorate, an Animal Welfare Directorate, an Animal Health Unit and an Animal Welfare Unit. Adding to this, we also have a Commissioner for Animal Welfare with the remit to safeguard the rights and welfare of animals in Malta and Gozo.
Forced migration is not only a humanitarian, social and economic issue; it is primarily a political one
Refugees fall under the portfolio of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality. In contrast to the Animal Rights Ministry, our Home Office has only the following: an Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers, a Council for Foreign Communities in Malta, a task force related to the Human Trafficking Reform, and a Trafficking in Human Persons Monitoring Group. The UNHCR Commissioner is a UN body, not a government one. The Malta Refugee Council is non-governmental.
What is the Foreign Office doing on this issue created by rich countries? People are forced to flee their homeland for political reasons, which fall under the concept of underdevelopment, euphemistically referred to by rich countries as “developing nations”, and later as “less/least developed” countries. How true it is that language can be a tool to hide the truth! Is diplomacy a tool to scratch one another’s back?
The Monthly Review of September 1966, which featured Andre Gunder Frank’s article ‘The Development of Underdevelopment’.Irregular migration will not stop unless the rich countries of the world stop wars and the exploitation of economically poor countries which have a lot of both manpower and raw materials. It is this exploitation which is a major cause of poverty worldwide. Andre Gunder Frank’s article ‘The Development of Underdevelopment’ was prophetic.
No one will merit the Lord’s “blessed are the peace makers”, if we are only good a talking. We will merit Karl Marx’s disdain of philosophers: “philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it!” Stronger action is needed.