Children as young as three were detained for days at the Safi detention centre while awaiting deportation after being refused entry into Malta along with a Syrian woman.

The children and the woman, who hold humanitarian protection in Greece, flew to Malta but were denied entry.

In such cases, passengers are usually returned immediately on the flight they arrived on, human rights lawyer Neil Falzon explained.

However, several of the children had chickenpox and could not return immediately due to health concerns. Instead, they were placed in the women’s detention centre in Safi, he said.

Times of Malta independently confirmed the claim and reported that they were returned to Greece on Wednesday.

“Instead of providing the woman and children with the necessary support, care and attention in an appropriate accommodation setting, the government decided to lock them up,” said Falzon, director of human rights NGO Aditus Foundation.

“Furthermore, Malta chose to detain them in a detention centre that has been repeatedly condemned as exposing children and vulnerable persons to inhuman and degrading treatment,” Falzon said.

Children should at least be kept in an open centre, he said, adding that if a child is sick, they should be cared for in an appropriate environment.

“The detention centre is definitely not appropriate,” he said.

The detention centre is definitely not appropriate- Human rights lawyer Neil Falzon

Government sources said the sick children were cared for and given treatment while in detention.

Falzon asked whether the health of those detained at the centre was considered.

“If health concerns prevented their placement on a flight, what about the health concerns of exposing others at the Safi detention centre to chickenpox?” he asked.

'Human trafficking, abuse'

Falzon said that a woman travelling alone with a group of children, some of whom were sick, should have raised the alarm about issues such as trafficking and abuse.

He alleged that the government did not ensure the safety of the woman and children was safeguarded.

“Malta denied them access to any form of independent information or support. From information available to us, it looks like their apprehension was immediately and automatically followed by their detention at Safi Barracks,” he said.

Falzon called for more transparency in Malta’s migration system.

“Malta’s policy deprives detained people of access to lawyers and other forms of support,” he said.

In this case, for example, Aditus only learned of the woman and children’s detention by “sheer chance”.

“As it stands, the system places vulnerable people in an invisible zone, cutting them off from assistance,” he said.