The Prime Minister's great diversionary tactic of releasing a damning report by Judge Geoffrey Valenzia - who had been tasked by the previous administration to determine whether there had been negligence, a non-observance of procedure or an abuse of power leading to the death of an irregular migrant in detention in 2012 - last Wednesday night in Parliament has backfired.

This stands quite apart from the accusations made in respect of former Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

The Prime Minister's stunt on Wednesday was clearly a gambit to detract attention from the issue at hand, one which the entire parliamentary sitting had been dedicated to - Malliagate. But that particular ace the Prime Minister pulled from his sleeve on Wednesday was slammed rather harshly on Friday by no less than eight of the country's leading NGOs that work with irregular migrants.

Those NGOs lambasted the fact that the report and its damning conclusions had been lying dormant since December 2012 "while these violations remained unchallenged, and its recommendations unheeded".

Now remember if you will how former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had announced the March 2013 general election back in December 2012, after which the country was swept into election mode, and Parliament was dissolved on 7 January after the Christmas recess. As such, the Valenzia report had been "gathering dust", as the NGOs put it, for three months under the previous administration, and for almost 20 months under the current government, which has barely lifted a finger to act on the report's findings.

That report and its conclusions have been the property of the current government since March 2013 but nothing had been done to address its various recommendations. So much so that the NGOs in a joint statement berated the fact that since last year's change in government a previous review of Malta's detention regime for irregular migrants and any dialogue with civil society was brought to a sudden halt. 

That review had been carried out with the previous administration in order to bring laws, policies and practices in line with human rights standards and obligations. And while the NGOs said that they were not entirely satisfied with the conclusion of that review, they had hoped to take it further in the future. But they have apparently been bitterly disappointed by the current administration's lacklustre attitude to the subject matter.

They added that the current government has all but ignored the many pressing issues affecting conditions in Malta's detention centres, despite their repeated calls, and their concerns over conditions have been "disregarded" by this government.

The NGOs said they have been expressing their concern over the prevailing situation at the country's detention centres and despite minimal improvements "often of a cosmetic nature", those concerns remain valid to this day.

This is not to say that conditions in detention centres had by any stretch of the imagination been good under Nationalist administrations. They weren't. In fact, they were horrific and this has been well documented. Time and time again.

In fact, the tabled report told of sexual exploitation on the part of guards, "horrendous" conditions with extreme heat, dirt and an utter lack of privacy, the bad apples of the armed forces being detailed to the detention centres as a form of punishment, a disrespect for the rules and proper procedures, and several other concerning details.

The NGOs are rightly outraged, saying on Friday that "we cannot hesitate to express serious condemnation of every single person who read this report, failed to act and chose to remain silent". This newspaper echoes that sentiment fully with regard to both the PN and the PL's deaf ears and blind eyes when it comes to the plight of migrants who have mostly been detained for having committed no crime at all but to avail themselves of their international legal right to seek asylum in another country.

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola summed it up very well yesterday when he said that the Prime Minister's timing of the report's release constituted a 'vendetta'.

He said that Dr Muscat should have issued the conclusions immediately, and not as a form of retribution to the Opposition for pressuring the Prime Minister to remove Minister Mallia and to sidetrack public attention from the shooting incident.

The disastrous and undignified situation at Malta's detention centres has been plaguing Malta's human rights record for years now - to the detriment of both the detainees as well as their guards. Let us hope that now the report has at long last seen the light of day, its findings will be acted upon and its publication will lead to more than the cheap political mileage the government has sought to gain from it.