Research shows racial discrimination in Malta is ‘institutionalised’

A study in an EU co-founded project undertaken by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE), found 74% of property owners and real estate agents admitting that they would never rent out properties to persons of certain nationality, ethnicity or religion, even if these had the means to pay for their rent.

The harrowing figure emerged from the results of the project entitled 'I'm Not Racist, But...', which came to end with a conference organised on Monday by the NCPE.

Estate agents also admitted that some property owners instruct or even include a contractual clause to prohibit the rental of property to minorities such as blacks, Arabs, North Africans and Asians.

On the other hand, migrants and persons from other minorities showed a lack of trust in authorities, disillusion with any form of protection or access to rights and poor awareness and knowledge of rights and obligations. The research concluded that the failure to address housing discrimination may contribute to an increasing number of homeless people in Malta.

NCPE Commissioner Maud Muscat explained that the project's main purpose was to "combat racial discrimination and promote a multicultural society." The NCPE project was implemented throughout 2012 and aimed at understanding the situation of ethnic minorities in Malta and housing while also attempting to empower the African minority.

The conference was organised at the end of the campaign and discussed the various activities organised throughout the year, such as the anti-racism day, research on housing, training programmes for migrants and property owners, promotional campaigns, training programmes for the African communities and a number of videos carrying anti-racist messages and promoting positive images of ethnic minorities.

The qualitative research on migrants and housing in Malta evidenced numerous examples of direct and indirect housing discrimination at the expense of minorities such as blacks and Muslim persons, even though they were Maltese citizens.

Maria Pisani, an expert involved in the research explained that discrimination in housing "takes place in denying, directly or indirectly an individual or a group the right to buy or rent any housing on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender or skin colour."

Pisani cited a case which emerged from a number of interviews held with migrants and property owners, in which a Sub-Saharan asylum seeker said: "A property owner told my Maltese girlfriend that he doesn't rent apartments to animals, blacks and Arabs, he said blacks and Arabs are as good as animals."

Other interviews showed that in some cases landlords demanded excessive payments and when these demands were met by resistance the landlords threatened to call the police if they knew that the tenants were staying in Malta illegally.

In explaining the difficulties encountered by migrants, one women said that her neighbours called the police because they thought  her husband had stolen a child when he was sighted holding his own daughter.

Although not all migrants came across racism and discrimination, the study also showed that minorities, including Asians, Europeans and Africans encountered a number of difficulties in terms of payments and not knowing their rights.

The report highlighted a sense of impunity for racist and xenophobic discourse and the 'normalisation' of racist attitudes and discourse. The report also showed that the discrimination against blacks and Arabs was experienced across the board irrespective of migratory status and citizenship. Pisani added that the research showed a poor degree of social integration between certain ethnic minorities and society.

Interviews carried out with property owners and estate agents showed that the majority of persons interviewed were "extremely candid in their responses, to the point that racist discourse and practice appears to be normalised."

A number of land owners said that renting property to minorities drives property prices down and other complained of breaches of lease agreements especially in terms of the number of tenants or unauthorised sub-letting.

The conclusions reached by the report include the need to establish an entity to provide support and facilitate the transition of migrants from the open centre in Marsa to the community. The report also recommended the extension of the open centre.

The report also listed a number of recommendations, including the need to recognise that racial discrimination is institutionalised "and maintained through ingrained but dynamic social and cultural beliefs producing racially based inequalities."

Apart from showing that anti-racism initiatives, such as training programmes and awareness campaigns, must be stepped up, the report also said that government entities and service providers can combat racial discrimination by ensuring that racism and the needs of ethnic minorities, including Maltese citizens, are included in the planning, implementation and review of all activities assumed at policy and organisational level.

The research also said that estate agents have a responsibility to ensure equal opportunity to housing access and educating their clients. A key proposal floated by the report was that of establishing a code of ethics and standards of practice aligned to the Racial Equality Directive.