Malta’s migrant community gathered in Valletta on Monday morning to protest against the inhumane treatment dished out by authorities and public entities like Identity Malta.
Presenting a number of proposals to the home affairs minister Byron Camilleri’s offices, the migrants and asylum seekers said “we are gathered here today in peaceful protest to draw attention to the brutal manner in which we are systemically treated by Malta’s public authorities.”
Walking behind a banner which read ‘Stability Not Uncertainty’, migrants held up placards and posters in Maltese and English with messages such as ‘Migrants Lives Matter’, ‘Our Documents Do Not Give Us Dignity’, ‘We Pay Taxes and NI’, and ‘We Deserve Long-Term Residency’.
The proposals include granting citizenship to children born to migrant parents in Malta and access to social welfare such as children’s allowance for parents who pay their taxes regularly.
The protest comes days after a migrant worker – 32-year-old Jaiteh Lamin – was last week dumped on a sidewalk after suffering serious injuries on a construction site. He told people who stopped to assist him that he did not want to go to prison and said his boss had abandoned him there because he didn’t have a work permit.
Photos: Miguela Xuereb/Newsbook
The migrants pinpointed the home affairs ministry, and Identity Malta, among the authorities which they said treat them unfairly and inhumanely.
In recent months and years, episodes of violence against foreigners have increased, culminating with the murder of Lassana Cisse in 2019. What is believed to be the first racially motivated murder in Maltese history, saw the 42-year-old man from Ivory Coast was gunned down by two off-duty soldiers.
Political leaders, including prime minister Robert Abela and former PN leader Adrian Delia, have also been accused of fuelling racism and xenophobia. In recent months, Abela has ostensibly said that Malta is “full-up” while denying accusations of coordinating pushbacks with the so-called Libyan coastguard.
Citing the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor’s February 2021 report, which highlighted the ‘gravely inhuman treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Malta’, migrants called on urgent action by national and EU authorities.
“Migrants and asylum seekers gathered today in protest are first hand evidence of unsustainable and inhumane conditions we repeatedly face at the hands of Maltese public authorities, dire conditions which the Maltese government fails to address and continues to deny. We hope that through this protest our voices are heard and the necessary action is taken.”