Migrants are human beings as well

Last Wednesday I joined hundreds of immigrants and Maltese in a silent march in Valletta, displaying a banner with the words ‘Stop racism’. The message meant to be delivered was that the detention system is violent and dehumanises immigrants by treating them as sub-human without any rights.

When I joined a march in Sliema in favour of animal rights last year, no one told me I should not attend. But this time there were people who told me not to attend as I would risk losing votes. I had no hesitation to attend – out of personal conviction – and also because I am the Labour Party’s spokesman for Civil Rights.

As somebody with a Christian upbringing and then embracing the values of social democracy, I believe that every person has to be treated with dignity.

I agree totally with what Dutch Socialist Senator Tneke Strik who last Thursday commented about the tragedy of the 54 migrants who died of thirst in the channel between Malta and Sicily: “Yet again, a dinghy with 55 people on board drifted for 15 days on the Mediterranean. This time, only one person survived. When will this ever end?” Strik is the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?” She expressed her great sadness and anger over the deaths of another 54 boat people fleeing Libya towards Italy: “It is still not safe in Libya and the boats will continue to arrive. Europe knows that. I had hoped my report on the ‘left-to-die boat’ would serve as an eye-opener to prevent such tragedies happening time and time again. States must never hesitate to undertake immediate action to rescue people, even if they think someone else should be responsible: every minute counts. Governments in Europe, and not only in the countries on the southern shores of Europe, must react, and take an equal share in the protection of asylum seekers arriving from Africa.”

During the silent march we carried pictures of Mamdouh Kamar who was killed recently. Two soldiers who carry out security duties at the Safi Detention Centre are being charged with his murder.

Friends of Kamar who addressed the crowd said that he had lived in Malta for four years and had never caused any trouble. They also said it is not true that he was violent towards other immigrants at the detention centre just before he escaped and was killed.

The eight-month old daughter of Kamar was carried by her mother in the crowd comprising Maltese and Africans. Andre` Callus, who addressed the crowd, said that this was not a protest against Malta or against those who work in detention centres. “It is a wakeup call to those in power to tell them: change the detention system, treat immigrants as human beings, otherwise there will continue to be deaths like Kamar’s. Immigrants are beaten regularly at the centre and no one hears their stories as the media is not allowed to talk to them.”

Those who addressed the crowd also said that there should be a cultural change in Malta so that people embrace diversity and live at peace with each other like many already do. They said they find that many Maltese are kind and welcoming.

I attended the walk because I believe that the present system of how the State treats immigrants in Malta is inhumane.

Whatever the political rhetoric used to camouflage the system, the way migrants are treated in detention centres is institutionally racist. I hope that there will be a comprehensive review and overhaul of the system to make it more humane. Keeping people in conditions much worse than in prison diminishes the humanity of those caught in the system either as migrants or as security guards. Migrants are kept without any rights and some of them have been savagely beaten. It is a system that dehumanises not only the migrants but all those sent to guard them without proper training and resources.

Detention should be as short as possible. The conditions in which they are kept should be much more civilised and humane. Migrants should be treated as human beings all the time. People who are in charge of looking after them should be well trained and properly resourced. We should embrace cultural diversity and be open to each other’s differences. We should prepare ourselves better to become a multicultural society. An inclusive society does not happen on its own: treating gays, persons with a disability, and persons of other races and cultures as full human beings is something that does not come easy and we have to work on it. Changing laws is important but we also need to change mindsets and behaviour.

Irregular migration is an irreversible trend. It is not going to go away in any region in the world, let alone in the Mediterranean.

Apart from our international obligations to look after these migrants, there is a human and Christian imperative to treat them like our brothers and sisters. We are so proud that we are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as welcoming Paul and being kind to strangers. We should welcome strangers amongst us. At the same time I agree totally with the United Nations Commission for Human Refugees (UNCHR) that Malta is a small country and needs all the European and international help it can get to deal with the issue of immigrants.