Mifsud Bonnici responds to ICJ report: ‘migrant detention will be retained’

Home Affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici issued a strong accusation of a report by international human rights lawyers and jurists on Malta's detention system, which they claimed was against human rights norms.

"The report is not accurate in its portrayal of the Maltese scenario," Mifsud Bonnici said in a statement replying to the report by the International Commission of Jurists.

The report, which is the result of an ICJ study mission in September 2011, highlights serious shortcomings in expulsion procedures, detention policy and conditions, and living conditions of migrants in reception centres.

ICJ-Europe director Róisín Pillay said migrants should not be detained except where strictly necessary, and should not be held in unsuitable emergency facilities. "Twelve or eighteen months of administrative detention for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers will not solve the country's migration problems. The accommodation of families in the unhealthy conditions experienced in 2011 should not be repeated."

But the minister has insisted that Malta's migrant detention policy will stay, and that it was wholly justified.

Malta detains asylum seekers for up to 12 months pending the asylum determination process, but the detention is extended to 18 if claimants lose their case on appeal while still in detention.

"Malta's detention policy is not only fully in line with the country's international obligations, but also wholly justified in the present circumstances.

"The scope of detention is not punitive in scope, as its aim is primarily to safeguard national security. It is to be borne in mind that the overwhelming majority or irregular migrants reaching the country do so undocumented, as well as in disproportionately high numbers, as recognised by the International Commission itself."

Mifsud Bonnici also reiterated previous claims that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) does not condemn mandatory detention. "Article 5(1)(f) of the Convention permits detention for the purposes of preventing unauthorised entry into the country, as well as for removal or irregularly staying persons."

Asylum seekers who enter irregularly to Malta are held under detention and served with a removal order, but they are provided with the right to challenge their detention and apply for asylum.

Mifsud Bonnici pointed out that the considerable improvements implemented by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner had hastened the asylum determination process to an average duration of three to six months. "At present the vast majority persons who are eligible for protection by Malta only spend a few weeks in administrative detention," the minister said.

"It is only failed asylum seekers who are detained for a longer period, during which time the Maltese authorities strive to repatriate them back to their country of origin," Mifsud Bonnici said - although this position has come under sever criticism by the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner Thomas Hammarberg since it has been ruled to be illegal in a case brought by Louled Massoud against the Maltese government in the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2012, 143 such persons were repatriated to Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt on flights chartered by Malta or joint repatriation flights under the umbrella of Frontex.