Defending the proposed hub for persons with disabilities, Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana said that “legislation for the hub has been developed to be part and parcel with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.”

“The Convention provides liberty to choose, which is what we are providing,” she said.

The UNCRPC as well as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights all necessitate full inclusion of persons with disabilities to be integrated into mainstream schooling.

Dr Caruana’s argued that it is not a centralisation of services, because no services are being taken away from other parts of the island to be concentrated in the hub. She also said that nobody will be forced to make use of the services, other services scattered across the island will still be available.

Her statements contradict those made by the former chairman of the Kunsill Nazzjonali ta’ Persuni b’Dabilisita’ Joseph Camilleri, where he said that “a centralised approach to service provision for disables people flies in the face of all the recommendations made in the UNCRPD.”

“Unfortunately, this idea is being criticised by one of the persons who was involved in the process who helped to come up with the idea for the project,” said Dr Caruana, referring to Mr Camilleri.

“Mr Camilleri said that he resigned [from the committee of experts] because he was against the proposed hub, however he resigned in October 2014, and the report was submitted to me in April 2014. At the time, they [the committee] were proposing that the hub would be in an isolated part of Siggiewi. They proposed that it would cater for 64 persons but I did not agree. This would have gone against the UNCRPD,” Dr Caruana said.

Mr Camilleri has refuted these claims categorically, stating that he “was part of discussions held in early 2014 and prior to my retirement from public life in March of the same year. At the time an almost identical was put forward My Philip Rizzo (then advisor to the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity)....At the time as Chairman of KNPD, I had expressed my outright and complete opposition to any large-scale project that proposed concentrating disabled persons and activities for disabled persons in one place.”

His statement was published in a previous report published by the The Malta Independent.

Mr Camilleri dubbed the hub as “segregation by stealth.” The argument has been raised by various sections of society that in effect, the proposed hub does lead to segregation, because although the hub is not taking away services from other parts of the island, it is still providing the most modern, and high-quality services in one isolated area.

In order to avoid isolation, Dr Caruana said a big priority was finding a prime site, which was why the Naxxar site was chosen, which is in the heart of a community.

The government is fully committed, as can be seen from the massive efforts made, to push persons with disabilities to become economically active, and bring them into the workforce, she added. With this goal in mind, social enterprise has been made a priority for the hub, where persons with disabilities will be engaged in entrepreneurial initiatives.

“In our society we are lacking in certain ways. We have about 60 persons with disabilities in homes for the elderly and a number at Mount Carmel, these people should not be there. Why don’t we get them out of the institutions, and push for projects that will integrate them back into the community. This is a difficult process and transition but we must acknowledge the needs of these people,” Dr Caruana said.

“It is good to promote independence for all however we must keep in mind persons who are severely disabled,” she added.

The €12 million hub is set to include restaurants, shops and hostels to be managed by persons with disability. Talks are also underway with NGOs, which include NGOs who work with diabetic people who would make use of the facilities.