aditus issues press statement following migrant riots at Safi Detention Centre

aditus unequivocally condemns the use of violence on Tuesday by a number of detained migrants during the protest at Safi Detention Centre.  Furthermore aditus would like to express its sympathy with those Police and Detention Service officers injured during the event in the course of carrying out their challenging professional duties.

“The Detention Services officers are called to implement a strict detention policy that insists on locking up people in filthy, crammed and suffocating spaces.”  aditus Chairperson Dr. Neil Falzon commented: “Malta has repeatedly been told that the physical conditions in Safi centre are simply unacceptable, and that an arbitrary eighteen-month long detention without any real possibility of legal challenge is an affront to human dignity.”  

aditus strongly reiterates that the men protesting on Tuesday, and most other migrants detained this year, were suddenly caught up in war that was not their own, where their lives and security were in real, serious and imminent danger.

“Who wouldn’t jump onto a boat that offered even the slightest possibility of safety, life, shelter?  And in acknowledgement of their desperate attempts to remain alive, we pack them up in warehouses and forget they exist.”     

aditus urges the Maltese authorities not to ignore the appeals emerging from the Safi protest, and to initiate an inclusive dialogue process with all stakeholders with a view of reviewing its relevant laws and policies.  “If Malta wants the European Union to show more solidarity in its regard, then Malta should demonstrate that it is really doing its utmost to uphold European values.”