Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1024340
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWS with a more regulated system to save migrant workers from loitering for jobs, which still prevails in his locality. Debono says the problem was recently exacerbated by arrivals of irregular migrants from Italy in search of tem- porary jobs. The Marsa may- or also sees laws against loitering as a way of giving the police an ad- ditional tool when address- ing anti-social behaviour. "They are not meant as just another administrative fine similar to a traffic fine… That would be an easy way out." He is satisfied by the enforcement so far, noting that a number of people have been fined. But he admits that social problems related to migration need more holistic solutions. Both mayors also link problems in their locality to the fact that exorbitant rents are pushing migrants to live in large groups in a small space. The Marsa mayor notes that some end up paying as much as €800 a month in rent. The increase in the number of people living in sub-human conditions was weakening social bonds in these localities, the two mayors warn. On this aspect both mayors seem to be in synch with NGOs who also insist on holistic solutions. But while the mayors think by-laws against loitering are part of the solution, NGOs are worried that these will further aggravate the situation by turning the very presence of migrants in to a problem. Aditus director Neil Falzon does not dismiss the problems faced by local com- munities. "The concerns of the residents of Marsa and Hamrun are about community safety, and as such need to be taken seriously," he said. Yet according to Falzon the solutions proposed by the two local councils are misdirected and may also amount to dis- crimination. "Aditus insists that residents' com- plaints are the result of several factors, including social exclusion, poverty, un- employment, exploitation, mental health problems and disability issues. "Without addressing the root causes of vagrancy and loitering, we would be do- ing an injustice to people who need sup- port." For while residents are more than justi- fied in wanting to live in a safe environ- ment, it is simply not good governance practice to punish those people "who the system, the institutions, the support structures, have repeatedly failed to iden- tify and protect", says the Aditus director. Falzon is also concerned that these measures are targeting non-Maltese na- tionals, "possibly black Africans… wheth- er directly or indirectly". Falzon said he fears anti-loitering by- laws may amount to discriminatory laws and has called on the National Commis- sion for the Promotion of Equality, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Min- istry for Equality to assess "their com- patibility with the Constitution and our equality legislation". Even Deguara is concerned by the dis- course surrounding the introduction of anti-loitering laws. "These actions reek of prejudice and only help to increase divi- sions and hostilities within the commu- nity." "They are potentially harmful quick-fix- es… the discourse surrounding them will most probably intensify the ethnic profil- ing of individuals, leading to situations where people are targeted unfairly by the authorities simply because of their par- ticular skin colour or ethnic origin. These laws also reinforce the narrative that eve- rything is to be blamed on 'foreigners'," Deguara said. Rather than picking on foreigners, Mov- iment Graffiti wants the authorities to ad- dress social and structural issues that lie at the heart of social malaise. "Unruly behaviour in public spaces is of- ten linked to economic inequality, social marginalisation and mental health issues, and this has existed long before the pres- ence of foreigners became significant in these localities," Deguara said. A history of anti-loitering laws in Malta and beyond LOITERING laws in Malta have so far been approved in localities as a way to clamp down on specific social prob- lems like drug abuse, prostitu- tion and now immigration. In 2006 Pietà became the first council to ban loitering in a specific area "in and around St Luke Square" in a move di- rected against drug addicts who used to hang around the area to collect their dose of methadone from a public health facility located in the same square. The by-law set a model for similar by-laws introduced in other localities by defining "loitering" as "the persistent presence of any person for no apparent reason". But the by-law also excluded "persons who are carrying out a duty in St Luke Square, Pietà, or in the vicinity thereof". A by-law introduced in Ta' Xbiex in 2007, this time aimed at clamping down on prostitu- tion in the locality, used the same definition of loitering as that included in the Pietà leg- islation. The by-law also excluded "persons who are carrying out a duty in the specific streets in Ta' Xbiex". The law singled out seven streets, which at the time were associated with prostitution. Ironically it was the Internet through which sex workers can advertise their services without causing any inconvenience and the advent of massage parlours, which spelt the end of this red light district. Yet loitering for prostitution remains illegal according to Maltese law which also con- tains anachronistic statutes against leading "an idle and vagrant life" which are remi- niscent of Victorian poor laws. Other European countries like Belgium, Finland and Sweden have removed anti- vagrancy laws from their stat- utes. The Criminal Code states that it is illegal "in any public place importunes any person to beg alms." By-laws intro- duced by local councils go a step further from laws which already criminalise homeless- ness and begging in Malta. In 1992, the city of Chicago adopted an anti-loitering law aimed at restricting gang relat- ed activity, especially violent crime but in 1999 the law was ruled to be in breach of the US constitution which found it to be "unacceptably vague". In 2000, the city redefined loitering as "remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reason- able person to believe that the purpose or effect of that be- haviour is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to in- timidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal ille- gal activities." Academic Angele Deguara (inset, below left) and human rights activist Neil Falzon (below right) see loitering rules as being potential harmful quick- fixes for authorities to target people unfairly simply because of their particular skin colour or ethnic origin. "These laws also reinforce the narrative that everything is to be blamed on 'foreigners'," Deguara says