Wednesday, 4th June 2008
Waking up to migration
Refugee: a person who has fled his or her country of nationality or habitual residence for a well founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, nationality, religion or membership of a particular social group or political opinion and is unwilling or unable to return to that country as a result of such events owing to such fear. This has been extended to include those fleeing from violence.
Asylum seeker: temporary status for individual who has applied and is waiting to receive refugee status.
Humanitarian Protection: temporary status granted to those coming from conflict ridden countries. Once conflict is over government can decide to repatriate them.
Irregular Immigrant: A person who entered a host country irregularly or has an expired and/or has no identity documents.
Economic Migrant: A person who has left his country of habitual residence due to issues of poverty in his country in search of a better economic future. These migrants can be and usually are repatriated.
Migration is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening ever since man was capable of travelling long distances in search of a better life. What has changed however is the type of migration we are dealing with, that of irregular migration. I say ‘irregular’ immigrants rather than ‘illegal’ because I believe that the terminology we use has a massive effect on the way we think. No human being can be termed ‘illegal.’ This has negative connotations – that of an outlaw, which migrants are not. What they are is irregular, because they have entered our shores in an irregular way and without documents. Why? Because they have either not been able to take their documents with them or because they have been told that they should dispose of them in order thereby hindering identification and repatriation.
The influx of migrants we have recently received allows our country’s true Catholic colours to shine through. Understanding, compassion, and empathy reign supreme on our little ‘Genna ta l-art’… hardly. With every new boat arriving, frustrations rise and what angers me most is that for years our government has done nothing to address these frustrations. Instead they treat it as a non issue, thereby increasing frustration and allowing this frustration to breed on the misinformation that people have collected throughout the years. It strikes me as odd to say the least that our government, incumbent for so many years, has done nothing to disseminate information and educate the public on this issue.
Malta is not a destination country for the majority of migrants; their aim is to get to mainland Europe. However, the Dublin Convention, which binds all EU member states, means that all migrants must have their application for asylum processed in the first member state they enter. Having been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection they can then move to another country only subject to acceptance by the recipient country. This means that most of the migrants do not actually want to be here but have no choice but to stay.
We hold migrants in detention centers for a maximum period of 18 months, doing nothing, staring at blank walls and only allowed a few hours of sunshine a week. Then usually they move onto open centers, with very limited support. How can anyone possibly expect these people to integrate within our society after having experienced such trauma?
Not only do these migrants receive very limited integration assistance from the government (this is done mostly through the voluntary work of NGOs), but the public itself is not taught how to deal with an issue that has been affecting our society for so long. Why have no information campaigns been organized? How has this issue not been included in our curriculums? How, in this day and age, do we still hear people saying things like “They come here to take our jobs!”, “They come here to get our women pregnant!” or my all time favourite “They sell their boats as soon as they arrive so they make a lot of money”? Statements like these are a result of lack of awareness and I truly believe that once made aware of the reasons which make these people seek refuge in the first place and the reality of their life on this island, the matter would be seen in an entirely different light.
Why does our government insist on behaving like a glorified ostrich? Sticking its head into the sand when it comes to hard crunching issues? Migration is not going to go away, no matter how many borders you patrol. FRONTEX can circle all it wants, migrants will always find a new route to enter and once a boat enters your waters you have no choice but to take it in. So it is high time that something is done to inform our citizens about the real facts of migration, and allow them not to rely solely on hear say that has been inflated fivefold. Misinformation can only lead to tension, and the only thing that tension can lead to is latent conflict, at best.
I am not blind to the problems that migration brings with it. I know that it is an issue, but I am also realistic. It is not going to go away overnight and the deep rooted problems that lead to migration are extremely complex. Therefore it’s high time something is done to promote acceptance and integration within our society and see what can be gained from this. We hear enough about the problems that migration brings with it; however the benefits are usually hidden away, and there are benefits.
One of the biggest complaints about migration is that migrants are willing to work for very little pay, negatively affecting competition for local labourers, who demand better conditions. The fact that migrants are willing to do DDDs (Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning jobs) removes pressure on employers to improve conditions and give better benefits. However, once migrants are granted refugee status they can register for work. This accompanied with pro-integration polices would mean that companies can no longer exploit them for cheap labour. This would mean that they are paid fairly and they contribute positively to our work force as well as returning competition to the industry. This would also mean that they have to pay tax, decreasing the burden on the Maltese tax payer and contributing to the economy.
I want to call for a proper campaign that will educate our public on the issue of migration. Cultural changes, particularly diversity must be handled delicately, because people don’t like change. I am not calling for a solution to migration; I understand that this is an extremely difficult situation and that rushing to find a quick fix solution only causes harm. What I am calling for is an action plan to handle things at a national social level and to inform our public and help them to see the wider picture (where these immigrants are coming from, why they are coming here, what happens once they arrive). Do not doubt the power of the government when it comes to matters of public opinion. It has many tools at its disposal and many NGOs who would willingly jump on board to help if such an initiative where to be started. NGOs can only do so much with limited funding and limited human resources, but the government has an important role to ensure social cohesion and to educate the public regarding matters of national importance. So far the only major campaigns we have seen are ones for the EURO, the EU and a few more which have been economically or politically based. Where are the social issues? Have these been forgotten?
Leah Gatt is a 2nd Year student of European Studies at the University of Malta. She is also a member of InSite, the student media organization www.insite.org.mt
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Comments
A couple of days ago Amnesty (I'm not sure if its the right organisation) compiled a report where this organisation started bitching about how the immigrants are not treated well, ecc... I think that they are treated more than fair and they have an easy life here as compared to their countries of origin. And this is all at our (us as taxpayers) expenses.
I think that the majority of Maltese persons want to get rid of them. The problem is how!! From a local point of view - The church is very protective and as we know from local political history, a party that challenges the church has a very tough job ahead if it wants to win the elections.
Also, it may seem foolish to me, but Malta is not one of the largest islands in the world, and so eventually, how are all of the immigrants going to fit in?
The general lack of effort on integration only fuels this erroneous perception, and can only lead to the marginalisation of whole sections of society. I can't see how that would be in any way beneficial.
We must not let the same happen in Malta though. Even while the government is lobbying for help from the EU, it needs to be working on integration laws, such as compulsory lessons in English, Maltese, history, social studies...
Most immigrants come from cultures very different to ours. Unless we do something about it, they are going to stick to friends of the same nationality, because it's obviously easier... the Maltese then naturally think they are 'strambi' and feel threatened. This is a cycle which we have to interrupt.
It is government that has to work on this.