News - Page 45 of 111 - aditus foundation

Two Human Rights Internships (part-time, paid)

In the context of the project Marginalised Persons as Human Rights Volunteers, we are happy to offer two paid Human Rights Internships, for the period 1 February to 31 December 2020.

The project acknowledges the challenges faced by marginalised groups in engaging in NGO activities and seeks to overcome these challenges by providing as broad a learning experience as possible.

The two Interns will be fully integrated into our team, participating in projects, activities, advocacy efforts, public initiatives and formulation of our strategies. Together with the Interns, we will also identify and support our Interns’ key learning needs, such as linguistic, IT, administrative/management or other.

Shameful treatment of arrested migrants is a manifestation of institutionalised racism

NGO Statement – aditus foundation, Integra Foundation, Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta)

We strongly condemn the manner in which the Malta Police Force escorted a group of arrested migrants, including a number of minors, to Court this morning.

Publicly available images and videos show the arrested migrants brought to Court via one of Malta’s busiest pedestrian streets. All men were tied together in pairs with cable ties, seemed to be wearing the same clothes they had on when arrested yesterday and it was reported that some were without shoes. A large number of accompanying Police officers were wearing white sanitary gloves.

We believe this treatment to be inhumane and prejudicial to the presumption of innocence principle. International and European standards include the State obligation to ensure that suspects are not presented in Court or in public in a manner that infers guilt. This treatment also amounts to institutionalised racism since this way of parading accused persons seems to be reserved to non-Maltese nationals.

We won, Captain Claus-Peter Reisch is a free man!

We had a fabulous morning in Court today! After 18 months in criminal proceedings, NGO rescue Captain Claus-Peter Reisch was finally cleared of all charges brought against him. In its much-awaited judgement, the Court of Criminal Appeal closed Police vs Claus-Peter Reisch (Appeal No. 150/2019) with a 62-page judgement finding Claus-Peter not guilty of sailing into Maltese waters without the appropriate ship registration. Thanks to this judgement, Claus-Peter is now a free man!

Claus-Peter was charged following the rescue at sea of over 200 migrants. In the political impasse that followed the rescue, the Netherlands claimed the MV Lifeline was not flying the Dutch flag, prompting Malta to allow the ship to enter its port and disembark the migrants and to subsequently slapped Claus-Peter with two criminal charges relating to the ship’s registration. In the first judgement, delivered on 14 May 2019, Claus-Peter was cleared of one charge but found guilty of the other. He was fined €10,000. On our advice, he decided to appeal this conviction. A full account of the facts and judicial process may be found here.

(Ir)Regular Love Campaign

Everyone who is old enough has the right to marry, no matter who they are or where they are from, this is guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

However, not everyone has access to this right and many migrants that do not have a Maltese residence permit or a valid visa still face a number of barriers when wishing to contract a marriage with their partners, be they Maltese or foreign, even though Maltese law does not require Maltese residency in order to marry.

This is our campaign to raise awareness on their right to marry:

(Ir)Regular Love Campaign video

Follow our News & Updates or email carlacamilleri@aditus.org.mt to get to know more!

This project has been funded by the Small Initiatives Support Scheme (SIS) managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS)

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‘Larger Than Life!’ exhibition now open

On Friday 13 December we opened our exhibition of human rights posters, ‘Larger Than Life!‘ as part of the project supported Arts Council Malta. It was a fun, vibrant and engaging evening where the 6 fabulous artworks could be fully appreciated…with wine and pizza 😉

In ‘Larger Than Life!’ we commissioned 6 human rights posters from established local artists: Ed Dingli, Sarah Maria Scicluna, Magda Azab, Seb Tanti Burló, Luke Caruana, Daniela Attard. Our idea was to produce posters unlike our usual NGO poster. Instead, we wanted stunning artworks that happen to be posters grappling with a human rights theme. The 6 artists did a great job, their works vary in approach, tone, colour, mood and theme thereby giving the exhibition a truly composite feel.