Opinion: This Isn’t About Pandering To The Far Right. It’s About Listening To People
Accusations that Robert Abela is “pandering to the far right” by calling for an update to the European Convention of Human Rights look quite short-sighted.
Abela’s argument, which is backed by other European leaders, is that the courts are interpreting the Convention in a manner that is preventing European countries from returning failed asylum seekers.
The Convention, which came into force some 70 years ago, must therefore be updated to close certain loopholes, particularly since human traffickers are gaming the system. For example, traffickers are taking advantage of international laws that oblige ships to rescue people at risk of drowning by coordinating the departure of migrants when they know ships are nearby.
There are ways to update the convention humanely. Asylum requests should be taken seriously, rejected asylum seekers shouldn’t be treated like animals and they shouldn’t be allowed to live in limbo for several years before they are plucked out of their new communities.
However, the principle should be that only people who need asylum should be given asylum. Otherwise the system becomes a free-for-all and money will continue flowing into the pockets of human traffickers.
Malta might be currently shielded from it but mass irregular migration is a major concern for Europe, and European voters are responding.
If citizens feel that their politicians aren’t listening to them, they are going to be more likely to turn to alternative parties, including some which insert extreme policies along with those that address people’s real concerns.
People don’t tend to add labels to parties. If people are concerned with mass migration and the only parties giving them a voice are the ‘far-right’, they might well vote for them.
The reluctance of established parties to act on their citizens’ concerns has allowed smaller parties to grow into formidable political forces. It was as though they assumed that people would always vote for what they are used to rather than take a plunge into the unknown.
But now Giorgia Meloni has been elected in Italy, Geert Wilders won an election in the Netherlands, Germany’s AfD and France’s National Rally have both gained a lot of support, and Donald Trump’s victory in the US is only likely to embolden like-minded parties.
The very definition of “mainstream politics” is fast changing before our eyes.
And if politicians’ hands are tied because of international laws, it’s inevitable that focus will eventually shift to these laws. There have already been serious calls in some countries, such as the UK, to leave the ECHR entirely because of the way it views mass migration.
Isn’t it better to tackle the problem while there is still time rather than risk the election of leaders who want to dismantle the ECHR, which protects us from torture and slavery and safeguards our freedom of speech, privacy, religion, and political assembly?
Abela’s call for reform shouldn’t be dismissed as far-right pandering but viewed as an attempt to preserve the spirit of the ECHR by adapting it to modern realities – not only the evolution of mass migration but the importance of Europe keeping its citizens on its side, particularly now it is telling us to prepare for war with Russia.
Ignoring growing public frustration will only embolden people who want to tear down the very institutions that protect our freedoms.
READ NEXT: Misguided Alliances: The Danger of Western Support in Turkey
