The Malta Refugee Council has fully endorsed a Council of Europe report which found that the country's detention regime for asylum seekers borders on "institutional mass neglect". 

Published on Wednesday, the report by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) laid bare the state of Malta's migrant centres and accused the government of breaking international law and flouting European values. 

The Malta Refugee Council said the CPT findings confirmed concerns its members had repeatedly flagged. 

“Whilst we fully acknowledge the serious challenges Malta continues to face in receiving relatively large numbers of asylum-seekers, we nonetheless underline the CPT’s observation that these challenges cannot absolve the Maltese authorities of their international human rights obligations,” the council said.

It echoed the report’s appeal to the European Union and the Council of Europe to provide a consolidated approach to address Malta’s situation. It also noted positive developments brought about by the new detention services director.

“We hope these developments are merely the first steps of a major overhaul of the situation in the centres. It is in this spirit that we invite the authorities to engage with us in a discussion centred on a reform of Malta’s detention regime,” the council said.

It said it was eager to explore more humane and dignified alternatives to the current regime while ensuring full compliance with Malta’s international and European human rights commitments.

“Alternatives do exist,” it concluded.