Malta accused of ignoring human rights obligations
James Debono
The actions of the Maltese authorities fall “woefully short of international human rights obligations and standards of conduct at sea,” the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay wrote in an article in The Guardian and other international news outlets last week. Pillay was referring to an incident last month in which scores of migrants died of hunger and thirst while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
The Maltese authorities had spotted their boat in distress and provided food, water and fuel, as well as life jackets, and alerted their Italian counterparts; but the emaciated passengers were left to continue their journey. When they were finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, only five out of an estimated 80 passengers had survived their ordeal.
On their part, the Armed Forces of Malta deny this version of the story, arguing that the dinghy intercepted by the Italians was not the same as the one assisted by a Maltese patrol boat some days earlier.
The incident sparked a deluge of criticism of the Maltese authorities in the Italian press, as well as calls for Malta to relinquish part of its Search and Rescue zone.
“The Maltese government maintains that its officials complied with international agreements,” Pillay wrote last week in the Guardian. “But their acts fall woefully short of international human rights obligations and standards of conduct at sea.”
Pillay referred to the incident again in a keynote speech to the UN’s Human Rights council yesterday, in which she reminded governments that “human beings adrift at sea are not toxic cargo.”
She also condemned the Italian decision to forcefully repatriate migrants as one which violates international law. Both the Maltese government and the Labour opposition have expressed support for the policy condemned by the United Nations.
Pillay has also condemned port authorities who force migrants back to sea to certain hardship and peril as though they were turning away ships laden with dangerous waste.
According to Pillay every time a government refuses to allow those who have been rescued to disembark at the nearest port or the final port of destination, they increase the pressure on captains and shipping companies to avert their gaze when they see a migrant boat in trouble.
Ministry rebuts criticism Late yesterday evening, the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs relayed the facts of the Eritrean case yet again in reaction to Pillay’s comments. The ministry noted that the High Commissioner was “apparently… unaware of” the facts of the matter.
“The statements of the High Commissioner for Human Rights seem to be based on the same misinformation that appeared in the Italian media over the past weeks. One would expect an official in High Commissioner Pillay’s capacity to check the facts with the relevant authorities rather than passing a judgement based on the second or third hand information that appears in the media,” the ministry said.
The government added that forcefully rescuing the occupants of the dinghy against their express wishes and in the absence of a real and imminent danger of loss of life, “as the High Commissioner is suggesting, would be an illegal exercise of jurisdiction… Malta has consistently been abiding by its international SAR responsibilities for decades. It will continue doing so in the years to come.”
The government said the rubber dinghy was spotted on 19 August inside the Libyan search and rescue area, and the Maltese rescue coordination centre directive an AFM vessel towards it.
“The migrants were found to be in good spirits and in good health. More importantly, the persons on board refused to be rescued by the Maltese military vessel and insisted on continuing their voyage towards the northwest and the Italian island of Lampedusa. Their dinghy was in a good condition and seaworthy. An aerial still photograph already published by the AFM of this dinghy clearly shows that there was no evidence that it had been carrying ‘scores of migrants’ mentioned by High Commissioner Pillay,” the ministry said.
It added that the AFM had no option other than providing food, water, fuel and lifejackets so as to reinsure the occupants’ safety. The dinghy then continued its voyage on its own steam.
The AFM surface vessel continued monitoring the dinghy so as to be in a position to intervene should its occupants require any assistance or rescue. On the morning of 20 August, as the dinghy was approaching Italian territorial waters, the Maltese authorities informed the Italian authorities through the European Patrolling Network about its presence. The dinghy was then intercepted by a patrol boat of the Italian Guardia di Finanza and its occupants taken ashore to Lampedusa.
“It must be noted that at no time did the AFM patrol boat lose contact with the dinghy from the moment it was intercepted until the immigrants were recovered by the Guardia di Finanza,” the ministry said.
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Pillay was referring to an incident last month in which scores of migrants died of hunger and thirst while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. 
