Racist incidents in Malta remain under-reported

Victims of racist abuse in Malta will now have a user-friendly and discreet way of reporting their experience, set up in the hope of reaching out to the relevant authorities and preventing future instances of such abuse.

A brainchild of the People for Change Foundation, the Report Racism Malta website – launched this month – allows users to pass on information about racist abuse to the Foundation.

The initiative hopes to tackle the enduring problem of under-reporting of racist abuse through this easy-to-use online interface, and will also offer guidance to the victims if this is sought.

The under-reporting of racist incidents was a key instigator for the project. According to the directors of the People for Change Foundation, Jean-Pierre Gauci and Christine M. Cassar, the reasons for this are various.

“The first reason is that racist incidents are passed off as just another part of the daily reality of being ethnically different – something that simply happens. The second is a lack of awareness of the possibility of expressing grievances and seeking redress. The third is a lack of awareness of how and where to report,” they said, adding that only 11% of respondents to the EU Minorities survey were aware of the existence of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality.

“Another reason is that the systems and processes of reporting are often seen as being too difficult to navigate, especially if the victim is not aware of the processes in place.”

To this end, the Foundation has ensured that the Report Racism Malta site is easy to use, and that it takes into consideration the case-by-case scenarios of racist abuse.

The web-based interface takes the form of a questionnaire hosted at www.reportracism-malta.org. Users will be asked basic factual questions about the incident in question – such as whether the abuse was physical or verbal, or whether it took place in a public or professional setting – and will then be allowed to expand upon the experience in their own words.

Gauci and Sammut said that when someone files a report, they can choose whether to be contacted or not. If they opt not to be contacted, then the report will be kept but no follow up will be sought. If the individual agrees to be contacted, she or he will be contacted by one of the team members at The People for Change Foundation to discuss the incident.

“We will then analyse the case and make a preliminary determination of whether it falls within one of the legal provisions relevant to racism and discrimination in Malta,” they said, adding that upon contacting the person, the Foundation will seek to facilitate access to mainstream services for the victim, by providing information on how to go about doing this, what to expect from those processes and what information and evidence to prepare.

“A part of this is about the individual victim of a racist incident being informed of what she or he needs to do, and another is about him or her not feeling alone while going through what can be a long and disheartening process.”

The system aims to be “complementary” to the currently existing legal framework since the Foundation hopes that it will ultimately provide a clearer picture of racist abuse in Malta to the authorities. To this end, the Foundation aims to publish a report on entries received every six months, which will be circulated among stakeholders.

“People have a right to report cases of racism, and the fact that they don’t is not an indication that there are no institutions to which they report but rather that they are worried about the consequences of their report being made public or indeed that the process itself would be too taxing,” Gauci and Sammut said.

“By collecting information about cases of discrimination and monitoring the pervasiveness of the phenomenon in Malta, we will help build an evidence base that can inform legal and policy developments in the area,” they added.

Since 2007, the People for Change Foundation has been working in the field of migration, asylum and race in the European Union, in addition to on-the-ground legal and policy research in Malta.

To find the Report Racism Malta website, log on to www.reportracism-malta.org/