Members of the parliament’s social affairs committee yesterday visited the closed detention centres for asylum seekers in Ta’ Kandja and Lyster Barracks.
It was the first visit by a select group of MPs to a reception centre for immigrants. The delegation was led by chairman Edwin Vassallo, and MPs David Agius, Joe Debono Grech, Michael Falzon and Jose Herrera participated in the visit.
The group said the visit complemented discussions held in parliament on immigration by the committee. The aim of the visit was for the MPs to witness and analyse the “advantages and disadvantages” of detention, and to see how immigrants were being treated.
In a statement, the MPs said the detention services unit were making an effort in upholding the minimum reception standards directive, the law that lays down regulations on hosting migrants in detention.
The committee said that the Ta’ Kandja detention centre fulfilled standards laid down by European Council directives.
In conversations held with asylum seekers, the committee said one individual, an ageing woman, was being assisted by the authorities in finding alternative accommodation. They added that similar vulnerable persons were being helped to move out of the detention centres as soon as possible.
The MPs also spoke to asylum seekers inside the Hal Far tent compound, in the Lyster Barracks, and said the majority spoke of persecution and civil wars in their countries of origin leading to their departure.
In other cases, the MPs said they met migrants who had no refugee status and were being assisted to return voluntarily to their country of origin. They said that some immigrants stated they were not interested in returning back home, and that this contributed to a “lack of collaboration and long drawn, forced repatriation.”
Another visit was held at the Hermes Block in Lyster, which is being refurbished to accommodate 400 immigrants, and is co-financed by the EU.
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