Reprieve for 400 African Immigrants as Malta Cancels Repatriation Flights

The Maltese government has been forced to cancel its plans to repatriate 400 immigrants from Somalia and Eritrea after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a temporary order halting the repatriation.

The court order came after a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) requested for a stop to the repatriation plans amidst media reports that the government had arranged two flights to send these migrants to Libya.

The NGOs argued that the government’s plan constituted ‘push-back’, which was a strategy outlawed by the ECHR last year after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi used it persistently in 2009.

Malta Prime Minister John Muscat denied that plans to repatriate the immigrants amounted to push-back but acknowledged that he was in contact with Libya regarding the return of the migrants.

Malta's nightmare: Constant arrival of African immigrants is causing headaches to the island (Photo courtesy of www.haaretz.com)

The island, home to an estimated 40,000 people, has bore the brunt of African immigrants who use it as a gateway to other European countries. According to the Mail Online, the situation often worsens during the summer where boats ferrying migrants escaping war and poverty arrive on the shores of the island. 

The Italian island of Lampedusa has also been affected by the influx of African immigrants. In 2010, 63 immigrants lost their lives on the Mediterranean Sea after Spanish and French military ignored their distress—an action that has attracted a lawsuit from two surviving immigrants.

Muscat has criticised the European Union (EU) for not supporting Malta in its efforts to curtail the constant streaming of immigrants to the island. However, the EU, through its commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, reiterated the importance of obeying EU and international obligations by properly assessing the situation of all immigrants and allowing them to file an asylum request.

Considering Malta’s situation, do you think it is justified in its desire to repatriate the immigrants?