Malta unwilling to change ‘defective’ detention policy

Malta is unwilling to scrap its “defective” detention policy despite two damning judgments by the European Court of Human Rights that sparked renewed calls for the system’s overhaul. “The Government is not considering doing away with the detention policy, which is a requirement in Malta’s circumstances,” a Government spokesman said. “It should be noted that processing time for asylum applications now averages six months. This means that, in practice, genuine asylum seekers do not spend more than six months in detention,” the spokesman added. The ECHR commented in one of this week’s judgments that it “cannot consider a period of six months to be reasonable”, particularly when coupled with inappropriate conditions. After outlining some reports about the conditions in detention, it added: “The Court finds it difficult to consider such conditions as appropriate for persons who have not committed criminal offences but who, often fearing for their lives, have fled from their own country.” It ordered the Government to pay Suso Musa €24,000 and said the detention system was “hindering human rights protection”. “In the light of these practices, the Court has reservations as to the...