‘Callous And Mean’: Malta’s Blockade Of Migrant Rescue Ships Draws Ire Of Former Leading Minister
Former Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg has come out against Malta’s ongoing blockade of migrant search and rescue vessels, warning it runs counter to “Maltese values of hospitality and solidarity”.
“Closing our ports and airports to rescue vessels and aircraft is a mean thing,” Borg wrote in The Times of Malta. “It may be a populist measure but it is not justified at law, nor is it justified on any humanitarian or moral basis.
Malta last month suddenly blocked its ports and air space to vessels and aircraft operated by migrant search-and-rescue NGOs, even preventing the ones currently berthed here from leaving the island. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has claimed this move was necessary pending an investigation into the NGO operations.
However, Borg – who was Home Affairs Minister between 1998 and 2008 and later even European Commissioner – denounced the policy as “callous and populist”.
“It is like closing an eye to the deaths of hundreds of migrants in the central Mediterranean, in true Salvini fashion,” he wrote. “I do not believe that a centre-left government should adopt such tactics for populist reasons. It should stand firm in its position under the Convention on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) as it applies to Malta – a stand which I have openly defended – but it should not cruelly block NGOs from leaving Malta to rescue boat people. That is not in accordance with the Maltese values of hospitality and solidarity.”
Borg’s track-record on safeguarding the rights of asylum seekers is hardly a clean one. Notably, Amnesty International found in 2004 that hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers deported from Malta under Borg’s watch were tortured and subjected to forced labour upon their return to their home country.
No shame! Tonio Borg giving lectures on non-refoulement, humanitarianism and cruelty. This centre-left Govt has reformed the reception policy, launched an integration strategy, and is actively advocating for European solutions, despite the polarised political climate in Europe. pic.twitter.com/ooMZxaLUCR
— Roberta Buhagiar (@robertabuhagiar) July 19, 2018
Roberta Buhagiar, the migration coordinator under the current Home Affairs Minister, accused Borg of shamelessness.
“Tonio Borg is giving lectures on non-refoulement, humanitarianism and cruelty, she tweeted. “This centre-left government has reformed the reception policy, launched an integration strategy, and is actively advocating for European solutions, despite the polarised political climate in Europe.”