Michael Falzon told to use proper terms on immigration
David Darmanin
Labour MPs were on the defensive yesterday, as both the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and left-wing movement Graffitti appealed to PL officials to use appropriate terms when talking on immigration.
The General Workers’ Union yesterday organised a conference on the vulnerability of African immigrants, which often led to discriminative practices by their employers.
Labour deputy leader Anglu Farrugia and PL spokesperson for home affairs Michael Falzon came under attack by Graffitti spokesperson Andre Callus, who criticised the tone adopted by the political class when immigration is discussed, specifically referring to Workers Day, celebrated last Friday.
“Every party in Malta has so far treated third country nationals in a different way to the Maltese,” Callus said. “Today we’re discussing the importance of solidarity with immigrants, but politicians express concern over immigrants inside closed centres beign far more numerous than soldiers. How can one expect fellow workers to offer solidarity to immigrants if such a negative atmosphere is being created by this discourse? How can we wish for solidarity if we are instilling fear and panic among the Maltese?”
Callus also pointed out that Maltese politicians had “lost their chance to express their solidarity with third country nationals on Workers’ Day last Friday”, referring to the speech made by Joseph Muscat.
“All they said was that the Maltese government is losing control over immigration. It is this choice of words that is prompting exploitation,” Callus said.
Upset by the intervention, Falzon replied: “It’s easy to criticise us, but it’s the duty of every politician to analyse such issues in a broader way. I couldn’t avoid expressing my concern over such facts. I’m not in favour of exploitation, and I didn’t say that all immigrants are criminals. However, I think it’s a matter of concern that 2,000 Africans, mostly coming from conflict areas, are being held at a closed centre next door to Malta’s airport on one side and the AFM headquarters on the other.”
On his part, Anglu Farrugia addressed Callus directly. “You are not correct. You’re mixing issues here. Immigration is one thing, integration another. The point you brought up is not of relevance to the topic at hand.”
But Callus’ point was further reinforced by Fr Dionysius Mintoff, director of the Peace Lab: “You all have your reasons and you are all right for expressing them. However, using (Labour’s) reasoning, I can easily complain that there are less priests than laymen, or less doctors than the sick.”
On her part, IOM programme manager Maria Pisani highlighted the importance of choosing the right terminology to avoid stigmatisation.
“We keep emphasising the use of the term ‘illegal immigrants’. If we focus our discussion on regular immigrants employed irregularly, then we should not say that the immigrant is in fact irregular, or illegal. This terms tends to criminalise them. 60% of boat people coming to Malta were Somali – which already indicates their eligibility to humanitarian protection, without counting Darfurians or Eritreans. If they are applicable to protection, they have done nothing illegal. There’s no such thing as an ‘illegal person’ and if the majority are applicable to status, they are not here irregularly.”
Pisani added that since exploitation of immigrant workers happened across the board, one should be conscious of where the “focus of irregularity or illegality is placed”.
Michael Falzon here too begged to differ. “If they enter Maltese waters without documentation or irregularly, they are always here illegally at starting point,” he said.
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