According to the International Organisation of Migration, the UN agency responsible for migration, more people died crossing the central Mediterranean in the first three months of this year than in any other year since 2017.

Our government – while by no means the only government responsible for these figures – has repeatedly failed to live up to its search and rescue responsibilities under international law.

Far too often, people at risk of dying at sea are left there, while political leaders bicker on whose responsibility it is to rescue them and take them to a safe port.

This led to the deaths of 30 people in one incident in March and the illegal pushback of almost 500 people at the end of May.

This is a symptom of a broader problem, and unfortunately is only the tip of the iceberg of grievances that reveal the systemic racism of our institutions.

It is often claimed that Libya is a safe port and that migrant pushbacks to Libya are justified. However, it is anything but.

Testimonies of children, women and men who experience the detentions in Libya depict an environment of systemic violence, torture, and rape in the Libyan camps. It is not a safe port – and such pushbacks are illegal.

So awful is the situation in Libya, that in one instance, when a cargo ship tried to take its rescued passengers back to Libya, the passengers begged the ship’s crew to take them to Europe and some four individuals even threatened to jump into the sea.

When they arrived in Malta, the government instituted a case against three teenage boys that acted as translators during this ordeal. They are being accused of terrorism that can result in prison life sentences.

This is the case of the El Hiblu 3. The government has yet to drop the charges.

If they make it safely to land, migrants are then placed in detention centres upon arrival. The detention centres in Malta are notorious for human rights violations, which have been reported in the Council of Europe’s 2021 Anti-Torture Committee report.

These centres are highly militarised complexes, where hundreds of people are crowded into small spaces, do not have access to hygienic and cleaning products to keep the place clean, are often not even allowed outside, and where buildings lack basic maintenance.

Children, unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people are also being kept at these centres despite having clear policies and protocols prohibiting their detention.

No sane person can ever justify the inhumane treatment that migrants are being subjected to in these centres. And we are doing ourselves no favours by allowing such treatment to continue.

Unwarranted degrading treatment continues even when migrants are finally able to participate in society. Migrants and their children face many bureaucratic hurdles, including the ability to obtain long-term residence and work permits.

Some children are also stateless – likely having been born en route to Europe – and this can lead to problems where they are rejected from schools because they lack documentation.

In Malta, criteria for citizenship are extremely strict, and applications may be rejected without any reason given.

This dehumanises migrants – it leads to institutional racism, and eventually to tragedies such as the cold-blooded murder of Lassana Cisse, for whom justice has not yet been served.

Some LGBTQI+ migrants may also have their refugee and asylum status rejected on grounds that they are from a ‘safe’ country, even though the countries that they are from have legislation that criminalises LGBTQI+ people.

It is useless claiming to be a paragon for LGBTQI+ rights, when we fail to extend those rights to people whose states criminalise them for who they are.

Unfortunately, refugees and migrants are often used as scapegoats for very domestic problems. Instead of blaming the black migrant community, we should look for the root cause of our problems and realise that they are much closer to home.

It is the most powerful and privileged among us who have caused our problems of constant traffic, noise, and overdevelopment, not people fleeing their homes in search of dignity and opportunities elsewhere.

If we want to be a society that values human life and dignity, the Government must stop its divisive rhetoric and practices, which are reinforcing the violence seen at sea; raids on asylum seekers’ homes; and xenophobic statements made by politicians.

Such rhetoric is encouraging racism and further violence. Only then will we stop criminalising people for the colour of their skin and can claim to value the wellbeing and lives of others.