Monday, December 12, 2016

Please show your solidarity with migrants facing deportation


Signatures are being collected for a letter addressed to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security asking for the withdrawal of the announced deportation of a number of African migrants, most of whom had to an important extent integrated in Maltese society. 

The letter explains that the people designated for deportation have become members of and contributors to our communities. Deportation will therefore have negative ethical, social and economic effects not only on the deportees, but on Maltese society as a whole.

If you agree with the request please send an email to colin.calleja@um.edu.mt with your name and ID number. Organisations are also being asked to support this appeal.

The text of the letter reads as follows:


We request that the Prime Minister of Malta Hon Dr. Joseph Muscat and the Minister of Home Affairs and National Security Hon. Carmelo Abela withdraw the announced deportation of a number of African migrants, most of whom had to an important extent integrated in Maltese society. The people designated for deportation have become members of and contributors to our communities. Deportation will therefore have negative ethical, social and economic effects not only on the deportees, but on Maltese society as a whole.

We believe that a society that holds strong to democratic principles and inclusive ideals should never consider the deportation of people on the sole basis of legal irregularities. Not holding a permanent permit to reside in Malta did not prevent the people in question from contributing to our society and to establish relationships. To tear them out from the local communities to which they now belong is a violent assault on Maltese society.

The Maltese Government’s claim that a small country like Malta needs urgent help to survive the wave of immigration does not contradict potential efforts of the Maltese Government to offer hospitality to migrants who are already living in Maltese territory. Indeed, doing our best to host and protect people whose human rights are in peril gives credibility to Malta within the EU institutions. In contrast, deporting these individuals will inflict a loss of credibility on both the people and government of Malta.

As concerned people who have at heart both the wellbeing of any human individual and that of Maltese society, we urge the Maltese government to renounce the decision to deport these individuals. We are willing to collaborate with the Maltese authorities in finding more creative and inclusive solutions through which both the migrants and Maltese society will benefit. 

If you agree with the request please send an email to colin.calleja@um.edu.mt with your name and ID number. Organisations are also being asked to support this appeal.