02 June 2020
"We need to ask ourselves why Malta still operates migration through management-by-crisis, without long-term vision or contingency plans for emergencies and instead chooses to use human lives as pawns in a bid to find a solution to a global crisis"
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"Since 28 April 2020 hundreds of individuals rescued from rubber boats after fleeing war-torn Libya have been detained on ferry boats 13 nautical miles from the coast of Malta. Make no mistake, these people are being forcibly and illegally detained by private security personnel on government chartered private vessels that should only sail within three nautical miles from land in favourable weather conditions.
They are not on a tourist joyride, sleeping in ensuite cabins and enjoying the sights, in spite of what leaked videos are suggesting. They have no contact with the outside world, no contact with the authorities and no contact with monitoring bodies or lawyers. They cannot leave the place where they are being held, and in most probability, they have little or no contact with family members.
This form of incommunicado detention, compounded by the lack of access to information, for an indefinite period of time constitutes the most serious violation of the norm protecting the right to liberty of human beings."
Illegal floating prisons (Malta Today, link) by Carla Camilleri
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