Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had harsh words for NGOs who do not follow international maritime laws and said they need to be better regulated.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday afternoon Muscat following the informal meeting held yesterday between a number of EU countries, including Malta about the current immigration situation. He was also answering a question put to him by PN MP Simon Busuttil regarding how NGOs should be regulated.
Apart from the Italian code of conduct Muscat explained that NGOs are not regulated confirming that everyone must adhere to the law, even organisations. He gave the example of the current situation of the search and rescue ship Lifeline, which has some 230 migrants onboard. The migrant boat originally called the Rome centre which took action straight away and asked the Libyans to go out for the ship since it was in Libyan waters.
At this point, Muscat credited Libya with taking action highlighting the fact that Libya is now responding after a long time of no action. In fact, there were six cases, involving some 1,000 people, that was rescued by Libya. He attributed this to the money spent by the EU in training for the Libyans.
Following the call from Rome, Libya responded that they agreed to collect the boat, however, the call was intercepted by the captain of the ship Lifeline who agreed to instead rescue the boat. Despite protest from Rome stating that it was the Libyan coastguards’ duty the captain of Lifeline continued to rescue the boat. As a result of the rescue mission, the Lifeline now had to head for Europe.
Although Muscat noted that it was at this point that Italy made the mistake in directing the Lifeline to Malta in other parts of his statement he pointed out that certain words were made not by the government of Italy as a whole but by very prominent individuals in the government. Addressing Busutill’s concerns over the ensuing disappointing relationship between Malta and Italy, which traditionally has always been a positive one, Muscat noted that talks were ongoing at all levels to keep relationships as they were. He again said that certain individuals within the Italian government should realise that Malta and Italy’s interests are very similar.
Clearly distinguishing between maritime international law and the human crisis regulations Muscat noted that Malta is currently evaluating the situation. Whilst Malta is at the moment adhering to maritime international laws should a human crisis result, a whole new set of regulations will take over. However, he said he did not want to preempt the situation.
The law states that the right remains with the flag register state to ask search and rescue boat to move its current search and rescue area. However, in the case of Lifeline, it resulted that it has no registered state since it is a pleasure craft boat. Although it is the first time that such a situation has resulted it seems that a ‘trend’ is being identified whereby some spaces in seas are administered by NGOs with such boats, which are not adequate.
Answering a question put to him by MP Hermann Schiavone with regards to Malta’s preparedness should an influx of immigrants occur, Muscat answered that “we are prepared by we are never prepared enough”. He said it would depend on what happens and in what context. By showing a united front, at least in this situation, Malta is able to confront the situation. Muscat insisted that we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Explaining the secondary movement term whereby a person enters an EU country and then applies for protection in another country, Muscat commented that we have such a situation from people arriving by plane or catamaran. This clearly insinuates the secondary movement is coming from Italy.
Muscat once again reiterated that high-level statements were a waste of time and what was needed is the creative legislature and political will as was done in the situation with Turkey. When such operational action is taken, as had been done in the past, the number of boats making the treacherous journey to Europe had decreased by 78 per cent.
In light of the fact that some EU countries do not want not want to cooperate in this discussion about immigration, Muscat said there was a general agreement during yesterday’s meeting that if this situation ensues, countries that want to work in a concrete manner in finding solution should agree directly without the consent of the 28 member states. “This is not an ideal situation but the most realistic one,” Muscat said.
For the third time supplies and medical care was sent to Lifeline with Muscat saying that “we are doing our part”. He also highlighted the positive attitude and maturity coming for the leader of the opposition Adrian Delia who on his part thanked Muscat for keeping him updated on the situation. Delia insisted that there was no disagreement between the opposition and the government on the matter.