Evaluating the situation of human rights in Malta today is a challenging task. On the one hand, human rights have in recent times seen landmark progress that was unimaginable until only some years ago.
A number of laws have recently come into force acknowledging the human rights of minorities and guaranteeing access to civil liberties.
On the other hand, we are all aware that human rights, particularly in a regional context, are frequently and systematically ignored or violated.
We face a situation that often hinders our complete understanding of the true state of human rights in Malta, and the prospects that exist for their effective implementation.
What is clear is the role civil society needs to play in this scenario.
Individual NGOs and platforms, such as the one launching this report today, are critical in bringing specific concerns and situations to the fore.
Their role is also important because they have no hesitation in putting pressure and engaging in advocacy so that necessary changes are made.
It is crucial that civil society continues to gain momentum as a force and establishes strong working relations with government ministries and public entities, so to facilitate communication and collaboration that ultimately benefit us all, but more particularly the most vulnerable and in need.
It is also important to establish relations with international partners. In a world where challenges are globalised, human rights are no exception.
Partnering with international NGOs continues to facilitate the transfer of information, expertise and best practices.
Civil society in Malta also needs to keep up the momentum by monitoring international human rights instruments and playing a role in their reporting obligations.
As you are well aware, the information gathered at local grassroots levels is critical to the reporting mechanisms of these international instruments.
It is important that every reporting opportunity is seized and feedback, as an individual NGO or as a group of NGOs is given.
I urge you to continue to use these processes and find increasing ways to actively participate in them.
Civil society has to use every opportunity to deliver its human rights messages and provide feedback to the policy makers and legislators.
Public Consultation exercises on specific human rights legislation is another example where NGOs can come together and provide valuable input.
Policy makers have an interest in evaluating feedback provided because it is in their interest to formulate policies that are comprehensive in nature.
The feedback NGOs can give in these exercises is invaluable. NGOs are in many instances composed of experts or backed by expert consultants and their positions are usually founded on information gathered at source.
This information can bring added value to the debate and can therefore translate into sound human rights policies, as local experience has shown.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
When speaking about human rights in Malta, one cannot but think about migration. We are witnessing a systematic destruction of human rights at the expense of hundreds of lives.
Migration has dominated the headlines of newspapers and media over the last couple of weeks as reports of tragedies came in one after the other.
We have been predicting these tragedies for a long time. We have been warning leaders and decision makers that these tragedies will happen and that they will continue to happen unless a holistic approach to migration is adopted.
Due attention needs to be given to the situation of those thousands of people that at this very moment are risking their lives.
To avert more tragedies in the Mediterranean, we must act decisively and innovatively. The nature of these tragedies warrants a more comprehensive response at an international level.
To date, the response has been poor and limited. The international community must be more courageous and more willing to address this situation as a human rights issue.
More needs to be done to convey information on human rights. We need to educate people about their rights and provide easy access on where to resort for help and support.
We need to convey these messages in ways that are easily understood. If we want children to understand their rights, we need to speak in a child appropriate language. If we want asylum seekers to understand their rights, we want our messages to be in a language they can comprehend.
Civil society networks are the key to conveying these messages.
Civil society needs to increase its coordination and act strategically so that human rights are effectively recognised, observed and enjoyed by all. Reports such as this one help foster collaboration and also help to highlight a number of human rights issues that might not be of mainstream concern.
They also help provide a focus and offer recommendations on human rights issues as a concrete means of follow up.
For example, this time last year the UNHCR and IOM, with facilitation by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, launched a joint report on Unaccompanied Migrant and Refugee Children and Alternatives to Detention in Malta.
This report included a number of recommendations that were formulated after detailed analysis.
We will shortly be meeting to review the outcomes and evaluate our follow up.
Similarly, the report launched today includes a section with policy recommendations. I urge you to invest in following up on these recommendations.
You know very well that they will be of great use as indicators to evaluate progress made on the human rights front when it comes to future editions of this report. They can also be used as a focus for your work in championing human rights in Malta.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In conclusion, I feel that I must come back to the main human rights issue Malta is facing at this very moment. Migration, and the way in which Malta and its European counterparts deal with it, is a true indicator of the human rights situation we experience today
.The tragic loss of life; the disregard of untold hardship; abuse; passivity and inaction; arbitrary detention; exclusionary migration policies are just a few elements that must underpin any evaluation of human rights, because these are part of the biggest human rights challenge we have in Malta today.
It is to NGOs such as yourselves that we look for an unbiased sounding of the human rights situation prevalent in our country. Thank you for this work as reports such as this can serve to highlight what has been done and what remains to do.
Thank you.