A report drawn up by French medical organisation “Medecins du Monde” (MdM) has slammed the living conditions in Malta’s closed detention centres as “detrimental” and “incompatible with a minimum of respect of human rights”, while at the same time expressing concern regarding the lack of any screening policy for infectious diseases such as HIV and AIDS.
“The medico-social research conducted by MdM highlights a number of severe problems concerning the reception and integration of asylum seekers in Malta,” concludes the 42-page report published on Sunday, and based on intermittent observations carried out between April and August 2007.
“With regard to the detention centres, the living conditions and overcrowding, the lack of meaningful activities, the weaknesses regarding the access to health care, the detention of vulnerable persons (elderly, pregnant women and children, unaccompanied minors and chronically ill) and the length of detention up to a maximum of 18 months, are incompatible with a minimum of respect of human rights that should be respected for all persons seeking asylum in Europe.”
MdM doctors were initially refused access to the closed centres of Hal Safi and Hal Far, but were eventually allowed in for two, single-day visits in July and August.
“The living conditions in Maltese detention facilities for third country nationals remain detrimental,” the report goes on. “Main areas of concern are the existing conditions of overcrowding and cohabitation, disastrous sanitary facilities, a lack of bottled drinking water especially for pregnant women, lactating mothers and babies… A major point of concern is the detention of single women together with men in the Hal Far Detention Centre.”
MaltaToday Midweek highlighted the issue of single women detained with men in September of this year. Along with media organisations, this newspaper has also repeatedly requested permission to visit the detention centres, but this has been consistently withheld by the Home Affairs Ministry.
The MdM report confirms that little or nothing has been done to improve the actual living conditions within the closed centres, despite numerous assurances to the contrary.

HIV screening in detention centres impractical – doctors
Medecins du Monde also pinpoints the lack of any screening policy for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and AIDS as a major health concern within detention centres. But medical professionals who spoke to MaltaToday argue that any form of mandatory screening for asylum seekers would be a “non-starter”, for various practical and ethical reasons.
The MdM report observes that while testing for Tuberculosis (TB) is carried out by means of X-rays on all incoming arrivals at Malta’s detention centres, no corresponding tests are carried out for STDs such as HIV.
“Asylum seekers are not systematically tested upon arrival, nor are preventive materials, such as male condoms, distributed, nor are there preventive activities, educational workshops or peer-to-peer support provided in the Open or Closed Centres by government entities or NGOs,” the report claims, attributing this to the lack of a national sexual health policy.
Dr Philip Carabott, director of the Genito-Urinary Clinic at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, confirms that Malta lacks such a policy, but questions whether a mandatory screening policy of the kind used for TB would be practical in the context of the current detention set-up. “We do need a viable national sexual health policy,” he said when contacted yesterday.
But Dr Carabott also points out a wide variety of ethical and social considerations to bear in mind before any such policy can be implemented. “The idea of mass-screening patients without their consent is a non-starter,” he continued, adding that any policy which specifically targets foreigners would be by definition discriminatory. “You can’t impose screening on immigrants, simply because they are immigrants. If screening is to be carried it, would have to be on a voluntary basis, with the patients’ consent.
“The system I would like to see in place is similar to that used in the UK, where ‘left-over’ blood from patients in general hospitals – with the patients’ consent – is screened for diseases such as HIV, in order to build up a nationwide ‘snapshot’ of the extent of the problem. The results will not be traceable to the individual patient, but the data collected would be extremely useful.”

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt