Tunisian refugee Dali Agrebi has told this newsroom that "this government has served the purpose of the far-right" in the way it has been tackling present migration issues.
Agrebi was interviewed following Prime Minister Robert Abela's suggestion to reform the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) to "conform with modern realities", a proposition that was met with shock and described as being "dangerous". The convention will this year celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Labelling PM Abela's proposal as "ridiculous", Agrebi said that the authors of the ECHR probably never envisioned that someone would try to amend the document for "another group of people".
"This will really take us to a dark age, as we are seeing in the US and as we will see in Europe," he said.
Agrebi said that democratic backsliding and the erosion of human rights always starts from the weakest members of society, before slowly spreading out to the rest of society.
"Now it's not safe for non-Maltese. Tomorrow, it will hit someone who is Maltese or a group or a community - this is a problem," he stated, arguing that touching human rights will affect all human beings, irrespective of how someone may spin it.
Agrebi believes that should Abela's proposal come to fruition, Mediterranean countries like Malta, Italy and Greece will be given further immunity to conduct even more pushbacks of incoming irregular migrants by sea, and therefore, continue to neglect their international obligations to help such people in distress without facing any repercussions.
Based on statistical trends and comments given by the PM and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, Agrebi said that Malta's priority over the past few years in this regard has been to reduce the number of irregular migrants entering Maltese shores. Agrebi referenced the Cabinet members' pride in mentioning the dwindling arrival numbers over the past half-decade, even though the Central Mediterranean migration route continues to be the deadliest migration channel in the world.
Agrebi noted that Abela's human rights recommendation is "100% political", especially when one observes Malta's positive track record in empowering LGBTIQ+ rights, and its commitment to stay atop the Rainbow Europe index year after year.
Agrebi stated that Abela's administration has "adopted" the far-right's stance in this sector, and that as a result, local far-right groups no longer speak out on migration anymore, since they have been appeased by the government's policies. He recalled that just a few years ago, the Maltese islands witnessed movements, protests, and counter-protests featuring local far-right groups and supporters. However, nowadays these people only re-appear in the emergence of LGBTIQ+ pride events and discussions, since this is the major subject they wish to tackle next, he said.
"This government has served the purpose of the far-right - they are comfortable now to say that this government represents them," he said, "It is a bit worrying to look at a Labour Party Prime Minister agreeing with a far-right politician on certain issues."
Asylum
Mohamed Ali Aguerbi, 31, - commonly known as Dali Agrebi - filed for asylum in 2018 and was granted his international protection between two to three years later. Today, he is an artist and co-coordinator to the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM).
Agrebi said human rights are universal to all people and that this universality must be respected.
"The question is not how important human rights are for a group of people or another - human rights are for everyone, regardless of their status, ethnicity, their country of origin or anything," he said.
He shared similar remarks for Minister Camilleri, as he did for the Prime Minister.
While outlining his criticisms over Malta's handling of irregular migration, as well as local asylum/detention systems, Agrebi stated that "it is very worrying to see someone, who is meant to be a leftist, promoting far-right ideology", in reference to Minister Camilleri.
In this regard, he said it is very concerning that Camilleri's online posts publicising migrant raids in Maltese localities have seen him spread the rhetoric that "we are cleaning up Malta". Agrebi therefore expressed deep concern that Minister Camilleri, based on such comments, perceives these migrants to be "subpar human beings".
Agrebi held that "every migrant should be thought about in the same spirit as we thought about Ukrainians"; however, "the way European leaders dealt with the situation in Ukraine is very different from how they are dealing with anyone else around the globe".
"You see two different standards: two different ways on how we treat human beings," he said.
"The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs always say that 'who deserves asylum will get asylum' but we are not seeing that; over and over, some people who deserve asylum are not getting their status," Agrebi said.
Detention centres
He also cited the little improvements observed in the conditions provided to detained migrants in Maltese detention facilities.
Agrebi noted that the Maltese authorities are not taking sufficient action to address reported concerns related to the unhygienic, inhumane spaces and treatment being experienced in its detention centres. He added that the government is inhibiting discussions on this by restricting access inside these facilities, for monitoring purposes and to NGOs wishing to aid the detainees.
On behalf of the MGRM, Agrebi said that even under the DSA's new visitor policy, his organisation has never been granted access to go inside these facilities to provide information and social support.
He said that asylum seekers and irregular migrants from the Global South in countries like Malta are often treated like they do not even belong to a societal class. He said that the institutional focus on these people is to see how to use them to work cheap labour, "make them as invisible as possible", how to do all this legally, and how to use them for political gains.
"Migrants don't belong. No matter how long one stays and tries to integrate, in the eyes of the system, you will always be a foreigner. You will never be part of that country," Agrebi said.
Background behind the proposal to amend the ECHR
Last March, a Department of Information statement said Abela had expressed his intent to reform the ECHR - less commonly referred to as the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms - when Malta takes hold of the Council of Europe's rotating Presidency this May; Malta will hold this Presidency till November this year.
The ECHR is an important document to international law and is ratified by the 46 countries comprising the Council of Europe; this includes all 27 EU member states.
In this regard, Abela said that the ECHR has become "outdated" and needs "revising". Vitally, Abela argued that Malta will continue to fight for human rights, as long as it is "merited".
The specifics of what these significant changes will look like have not been divulged.
Since Abela made this announcement, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ian Borg has seemingly contradicted the Prime Minister. On Tuesday, 15 April, Minister Borg indicated that reforming the ECHR is not on Malta's agenda during its upcoming Council of Europe Presidency. This reform was not listed as such this April, nor in February when he first announced how Malta will use its CoE Presidency. Borg did not give a "yes" or "no" answer when directly questioned whether Malta has abandoned amending this international treaty as the PM had indicated earlier.
Abela's idea has since been received with heavy criticism. The Nationalist Party labelled PM Abela to be threatening fundamental pillars of democracy; NGOs such as the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation noted that "tampering with the ECHR to deny human rights is a new low" and University of Malta academic, Dr Andre Paul DeBattista, recently told this newsroom that the Prime Minister's wishes are "a populist flourish".