Malta denies entry even to dead refugees

PRO ASYL asks for sanc­tions by the EU and a com­pre­hen­si­ve res­cue plan

For three days now, Mal­ta has been idly stan­ding by, wat­ching refu­gees fight­ing for their lives in a tuna net. Mal­ta refu­ses ships with res­cued refu­gees on board. Mal­ta is sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly arres­t­ing refu­gees and migrants. Last weekend, Mal­ta even denied ent­ry to the French war­ship „Mot­te-Pic­quet“ which had reco­ver­ed bodies.

„Mal­ta’s refu­gee poli­cy is dead­ly, and not only sin­ce last week. The island sta­te has been vio­la­ting fun­da­men­tal human rights and refu­gee rights stan­dards for years“, says Karl Kopp, spea­k­er for Euro­pean Affairs with Pro Asyl.

PRO ASYL expects the Euro­pean Com­mis­si­on and the Ger­man pre­si­den­cy to take reso­lu­te action in view of Mal­ta’s cyni­cal poli­cy. The EU is bound to initia­te legal action against Mal­ta for breach of con­tract which may go as far as sus­pen­ding Mal­ta’s right to vote.

PRO ASYL demands that the Euro­pean Com­mis­si­on and the Ger­man pre­si­den­cy sub­mit a com­pre­hen­si­ve plan for how to res­cue refu­gees. Mal­ta is not a safe haven for refu­gees. The EU must launch a resett­le­ment pro­gram for tho­se who make it to Mal­ta ali­ve and fly them to other EU mem­ber states.

Fur­ther­mo­re, PRO ASYL asks the Euro­pean Com­mis­si­on and the Ger­man pre­si­den­cy to stand up for the pro­tec­tion of Eri­tre­an refu­gees arres­ted in Libya and threa­ten­ed by depor­ta­ti­on to the per­se­cu­ting coun­try. On May 21, Mal­ta had denied the­se peo­p­le res­cue from sea.

Karl Kopp, spea­k­er for Euro­pean Affairs

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