Words to Action: End the Detention of Children (NGO Statement for World Refugee Day 2014)

“My experience of detention is like being caged – it is traumatizing and an injustice.” These are the words of Farah Abdallahi Abdi, detained as a child in Malta, speaking at an event on child detention at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. Farah’s words are a stark reminder of the profound suffering caused by detention. They are also an urgent call to action.

To mark World Refugee Day on 20th June, we call upon the Government to translate words into action by taking concrete steps to ensure that no child ever again sets foot in a detention centre.

On Freedom Day the Prime Minister pledged to end the detention of children, a commitment we were happy to welcome. Yet children arriving in Malta are still being detained. We also reiterate our concern that unaccompanied minors are often detained with adults pending the outcome of age assessment.

We acknowledge that in recent months there have been significant improvements in both the quality and the duration of the age assessment procedure, thanks to the unstinting efforts of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum-Seekers (AWAS). However, we feel much more needs to be done to honour the commitment to put an end to child detention.

In particular we urge the Government to establish appropriate non-custodial reception facilities for families with children, as well as for unaccompanied minors pending the outcome of age assessment.

We reiterate our willingness to engage with this and other review processes, and to share our varied expertise and experiences. We pledge to continue to support positive efforts to improve Malta’s asylum regime, and we hope to be given the opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable and long-term strategy.

Finally, a second urgent call to action: We ask that everyone reading this statement consider signing the European Council on Refugees and Exiles petition in aid of Syria’s 2.7 million registered refugees ). To date, Malta has contributed just 21 of its 12,582 international signatures. World Refugee Day, 20th June, is the deadline. This plea simply asks Europe’s leaders “to give refugees a safe way into Europe, to protect refugees arriving at Europe’s borders, and to reunite families torn apart by crisis.”

NGO statement by: aditus foundation, Integra Foundation, JRS Malta, KOPIN, Malta Emigrants’ Commission, Migrant’s Network for Equaliy, Organisation for Friendship in Diversity, People for Change Foundation, SOS Malta.


International Women’s Day: violence against women remains a serious concern in Malta

Tomorrow, 8th March, is International Women’s Day. In commemoration, aditus foundation encourages the Maltese public, our government, and all authorities and institutions to focus on the impact of violence against women and to strive for its eradication — in policy and in practice. On 5th March, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published Violence against women: an EU-wide survey. As the survey states, “Violence against women undermines women’s core fundamental rights, such as dignity, access to justice and gender equality.”

Maltese women are abused at work, at home, in public and online. Amongst the FRA survey’s findings was that, starting from the age of 15, 22% of Maltese women have experienced male physical and/or sexual violence. Women suffered 15% of this violence at the hands of a male partner. In addition, 50% of Maltese women have experienced some form of sexual harassment, whilst 26% have experienced stalking.

It must be noted that these numbers, as worrying as they are, may be much lower than the truth. For example, the women surveyed admitted not having reported serious incidents of physical and/or sexual violence by a partner. The women did not contact police because they preferred to deal with the violence themselves or believed it was a family matter (35%), felt that the incident was minor (22%), were afraid (13%) or ashamed (12%), or decided to keep it private – presumably not telling anyone (13%). However, in spite of just 15% of women having cited violence by a partner, a significant 41% of the women surveyed indicated that they knew women in their circle of friends and family who had been victims of some form of domestic violence.

Also, although we tend to think of violence as being physical, the impact and violence of psychological abuse should not be underestimated. It may even extend to economic violence by a partner, including forbidding a woman to work outside the home. Economic violence was reported by Maltese women at a rate of 11%.

aditus foundation welcomes the recent developments for the advancement of women’s rights in Malta: firstly, the establishment of the Sexual Assault Response Team at Mater Dei Hospital. The team will offer sexual assault victims the services of a doctor, nurse, social worker, psychologist and police officer. We also welcome the intended ratification by Malta, announced this week, of the Istanbul Convention, which is the convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence.

We ask that these initiatives be supported by vigorous educational campaigns and the continuous training of the police, healthcare professionals and employers. Furthermore, there needs to be a greater effort towards attaining gender equality in Malta, since the empowerment of women leads to higher levels of disclosure about violence against them.

“Every sector of Maltese society must be watchful for violence against women. All campaigns on the subject must be directed at men as much as at women — and men need to feel a positive, proactive engagement in confronting the violent acts of some men against women.”

Download statement here.


‘Detention: there are alternatives’, joint NGO press statement for World Refugee Day 2013

On World Refugee Day, this 20 June, we call upon the government to look for alternatives to the long-term detention of asylum seekers.

World Refugee Day is an opportunity to recall the plight of refugees around the world, and pledge our continued support for their cause.  It is also an occasion for Malta to look closely at how we receive asylum-seekers and refugees, to ensure that our laws, policies and procedures are in line with our international legal obligations.

We, the local NGOs which work daily with refugees, asylum-seekers and other migrants, reiterate our call to meet the Minister responsible for immigration and asylum and to jointly undertake this assessment.  We hope to reopen the review begun a year ago and establish whether any of our detailed recommendations will be implemented.

“The new government has a rare opportunity to prove that it recognises the humanity of all persons, particularly the most vulnerable. We therefore call on the government to commemorate this World Refugee Day by making its intentions clear and triggering a much-needed review process.” – Neil Falzon, Director, aditus foundation

We are eager to contribute to the process of bringing Malta’s laws and policies on forced migration into accord with its international and regional obligations.


Our IDAHO message with Malta Gay Rights Movement

The ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map (Index)1 for 2013 as well as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) survey report clearly indicate that Malta has a long way to go before it can claim to provide equal rights and a safe environment for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens.

The ILGA-Europe Map provides an overview and comparison of the legal situation of the 47 Council of Europe member states based on legislation in the fields of equality and non-discrimination, family, bias motivated speech and violence, legal gender recognition, freedom of assembly, association and expression and asylum. The Map places Malta somewhere in the middle with a score of 35% where the highest, the UK scored 77% and the lowest, 7% was scored by Russia.

Malta’s position could shift drastically by this time next year should the government’s plans to introduce comprehensive Civil Union legislation at par with marriage and a new Gender Identity Bill translate to legal realities.

The FRA report sheds light on the social and human rights’ situation of LGBT people in the EU. Over half (51%) of Maltese respondents, just slightly above the EU average of 47% reported feeling discriminated against or harassed in the last 12 months on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Despite anti-discrimination legislation in employment 22% of Maltese respondents reported feeling discriminated against in the last 12 months when looking for a job and/or at work because of being LGBT. Clearly more needs to be done to raise awareness among the LGBT community about their rights, to encourage victims of discrimination to come forward, and to monitor and train employers to ensure the effectiveness of anti-discrimination legislation in this field.

35% of Maltese respondents reported feeling discriminated against in the last 12 months in areas other than employment because of being LGBT. This highlights the need for the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation outside the field of employment.

In the field of education, 91% of Maltese respondents reported having heard negative comments or having seen negative conduct because a schoolmate was perceived to be LGBT during their schooling before the age of 18. It is therefore not surprising that 63% of Maltese respondents “always” or “often” hid or disguised being LGBT during their schooling before the age of 18. The current discussions with the Ministry for Education and Employment and the Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties to address LGBT issues in schools from an early age are therefore a welcome initiative.

Only 2% of Maltese respondents held that same-sex couples holding hands in public is very widespread compared to 82% for heterosexual couples. This indicates that same-sex couples continue to remain invisible and points towards a perception among the LGBT community that being out in public spaces continues to pose a risk of violence or harassment.

Gabi Calleja (MGRM) stated: ‘IDAHO is an opportunity to celebrate diversity and to raise awareness of the difficulties that the LGBT community continues to face in their day-to-day lives. I am hopeful that the political leadership being shown will lead to a significant step forward towards equality and respect of human rights.’

Neil Falzon (aditus foundation) further added: ‘IDAHO is the day we stress the importance of public attitudes and perceptions to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.  The equal dignity of all human beings is not merely a principle that needs to be written in our laws, but a core value we must all actively uphold in our relations with everyone: friends, family members, neighbours, colleagues, and everyone else.’

1.ILGA-Europe is the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association. The Rainbow Map can be accessed at: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publications/reports_and_other_materials/rainbow_europe