Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1004621
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JULY 2018 MEP relaunches proposal to allow asylum seekers to apply for humanitarian visa for legal pathway to request protection in the EU MATTHEW VELLA MEP and former Spanish foreign minister Juan Fernando López Aguilar is calling on MEPs to push through legislation for hu- manitarian visas that will allow asylum seekers to apply for pro- tection at an EU embassy in their country of origin. Despite requests for safe legal pathways for persons seeking international protection, there are no European rules for hu- manitarian visas, which could be issued purposely so that asylum seekers can take a legal passage to the EU and then claim protec- tion. As a result, an estimated 90% of those granted international protection have reached the EU through irregular means, usually smuggled or trafficked by organ- ised criminal gangs. Lopéz Aguilar is arguing in an own-initiative report that in the face of the Commission's inac- tion, MEPs should back a pro- posal for humanitarian visas to be included in its general budget. The proposal was put forward this week to the Austrian presi- dency during a debate in the Eu- ropean Parliament's civil liber- ties committee. The former foreign minister – who had already attempted to push humanitarian visas into law – said the high costs associated with asylum policy for both refu- gees and member states – "… smuggler fees, risk of traffick- ing, persecution, mortality and ill treatment [and] elevated costs for search and rescue, including for private shipping, border pro- tection, cooperation with third countries, asylum procedures and possibly return" – necessi- tated a regular form of travel for asylum claimants. Humanitarian visas could be applied for directly at member state consulates and embas- sies, which in turn can collect biometric identifiers, and allow for such applicants to be inter- viewed remotely to be assessed on whether they have "an argu- able claim of exposure to a real risk of persecution or serious harm without conducting a full status determination process". All visa applicants would also be subject to a security screening across all Schen- gen and member state police information systems. "It is high time to find innova- tive solutions addressing both the needs of persons seeking protection and member states. The current thinking in silos on the visa acquis on one hand, and the asylum acquis on the other, is artificial and not adapted to to- day's realities. A courageous step is necessary for the EU to life up to its values," the socialist MEP said. There is currently no EU pro- cess for humanitarian visas, but the Visa Code Regulation, which sets out the conditions for issu- ing short-stay visas in the Schen- gen area, includes a provision for visas to be issued "on humanitar- ian grounds". The Visa Code states that the admissibility requirements for a visa application can be waived on "humanitarian grounds", and that "where a Member State considers it necessary on hu- manitarian grounds", a visa with limited territorial validity (LTV) must be issued. An LTV visa is- sued on humanitarian grounds does not entitle the holder to free travel around the Schengen area, but rather places clear restric- tions on that movement. The total number of Schen- gen-type LTV visas issued has decreased substantially from 298,117 in 2012 to 109,505 in 2015. In Malta, a number of LTV vi- sas were issued on humanitarian grounds to persons who required evacuation from Libya due to the armed conflict in 2011. Al- though Maltese legislation does not clearly provide for visas to be issued for asylum purposes, LTV visas have been granted on humanitarian grounds in excep- tional circumstances. Over the past decade, the Commission has encouraged the Member States to develop com- mon guidelines on humanitar- ian visas. Although some 16 EU member states either have or have previously had a national scheme for issuing some form of humanitarian visa, these have been deployed on an exceptional basis. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has been cautious about issu- ing humanitarian visas, citing Malta's proximity to unstable countries such as Libya and the inability to properly assess docu- mentation. "We are on the door- step of a war-torn country, so we might first see our national inter- est while being certain that those seeking access to Europe are not part of some terrorist group… how possible will it be for us to process applications and ensure they are genuine applicants?" Muscat had said in a comment to the press in 2015. In 2017, Malta received 1,616 claims for asylum, the major- ity of which were from Syrians (436), Libyans (409), and Somalis (332). Fresh attempt to secure humanitarian visas for asylum seekers MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar says asylum seekers should be allowed to request a visa to fly to Europe and claim protection if they have a prima facie case MATTHEW AGIUS A court has sent to jail a man who gave false testimony in court, ostensibly for fearing he would be shot. Generoso Sammut, 64 from Siggiewi, was charged with perjury, breaching bail and recidivism, after he had lied under oath in a court sitting before Judge Anthony Ellul in 2013. The perjury is connected to several civil cases instituted by brothers Michelangelo and Alfred Fenech, who are suing Enemalta, and Mediterranean Oil Bunkers Limited (MOBC) for damages, claiming to have been deliberately put out of business for political reasons. The Fenechs had claimed that they had their licences as oil traders suspended on order of the former Nationalist min- ister Ninu Zammit because of their links to former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. It was in one of their civil suits that Generoso Sammut had made an affidavit claiming he had known the Fenechs for 35 years; but in October 2013 before Judge Anthony Ellul, Sammut gave false testimony, ostensibly in order to get them to lose their case. It was Ellul who ordered that Sammut be investigated for perjury. A police sergeant who later interrogated Sammut about this, told the court that when asked why he had declared not to know them Sammut said it "made no difference to the magistrate" and that he "want- ed to get out of this situation with no problems with either side." Generoso Sammut, known as Jimmy, claimed that on one occasion in 1997, Alfred of- fered him Lm20,000 to kill his brother, but that he refused. A year later in 1998, Emanuel Zammit was charged with the attempted murder of Kelly Fenech, during which trial Alfred Fenech denied having commissioned the murder. Sammut also claimed he had refused to be summoned in a case on land worth millions of euro when requested by Al- fred Fenech's son. "Knowing what happened between them, I hesitated," Sammut said, fearing he would suffer the same fate as Kelly Fenech. "If you reach the point where you shoot at another human being, you are capable of everything," Sammut – who has in the past been accused of shooting at a police officer – said. Magistrate Neville Camilleri, in hearing the charges brought by the police against Sammut, said that all elements of per- jury were present and found Sammut guilty. Sammut was found guilty and sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment together with general interdiction as well as a ban on him serving as a wit- ness for 10 years. Jail for Bahrija land owner over perjury