From Mr P. Agius

I refer to the editorial entitled “An absent government” (TMIS, 10 June). The Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity would like to clarify the following with regard to its role in the matter.

Open Centres that house immigrants in Malta are exactly that – they are open for the immigrants to enter and exit as they please (as opposed to Closed Centres). One can surely understand that these centres are actually the homes of these immigrants, and access to the public, including journalists, is agreed to following procedures that respect the privacy and ensure the security of the residents.

Such procedures are in place first and foremost to protect the best interests of the residents and workers who would otherwise be exposed to unaccounted-for people entering these centres. These procedures are in fact rather straightforward and simply entail foreign press first obtaining accreditation from the Department of Information (necessary for any foreign coverage locally and also to verify the journalists’ credentials) and then working out a programme of visits together with the Ministry and its newly appointed agency – the Organisation for the Integration and Welfare of Asylum Seekers (OIWAS) – which manages and coordinates the open centres falling under the Ministry’s responsibility.

Journalists are briefed by OIWAS employees who then give them a tour of the centre or centres, discuss government policy and initiatives, and assist them in carrying out interviews with staff members and immigrants willing to speak to the journalists. Indeed, this system has been followed for over a year now since the centres were formed into one organisation, giving more consistency and balance to the open centres.

We have had umpteen visits from journalists from places as diverse as Japan, Australia, the UK, Italy, The Netherlands and Greece to name but a few, all without incident. Such reporters represented various agencies including some of the better-known ones such as the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and MSNBC. All these journalists collaborated in full and were more than happy to abide by the policy and procedures in place.

Furthermore, we wish to clarify that the journalist in question was not only accompanied to the Marsa Open Centre, but she was also accompanied to Hal-Far Tent Village and to another open centre for vulnerable immigrants, also run by the government and not by an NGO, as your newspaper reported. The OIWAS official mentioned in the Leader accompanied the journalist to two of these centres, on two different days, and stayed at the centres for over an hour on both occasions, well over the half-hour reported. In addition, a

second official not mentioned in the Leader accompanied the journalist to the third centre, the visit to which had incidentally been agreed upon verbally by the journalist and this

representative.

This Ministry reiterates its willingness to

collaborate with all journalists, local and international, and augurs that procedures and policies in place to ensure that such visits go as smoothly as possible, continue to be

followed for the benefit of all involved.

Publius Agius

Acting Director of Information