Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1234806
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 APRIL 2020 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA ON Malta's social welfare agency boss Alfred Grixti's Facebook page are the cover photos that proudly boast his lifelong Labour Party ped- igree, with photos of lead- ers present and past, and his Catholic loyalty, with photos of him greeting Pope Fran- cis, Archbishop emeritus Paul Cremona, and even lifting the St Dominic statue in Valletta. But his inflammatory com- ments on migration this week fell short of both his pub- lic and personal beliefs: in a Facebook comment posted to the profile of a Labour Par- ty candidate, the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services said migrant rescue boats should be "sunk" and left to their own devices. "The NGO vessels are operating illegally in Maltese waters... first impound them, then scuttle them!" The comment was posted in a reaction to an original post by another person tak- ing umbrage at the fact that a German-based migrant res- cue charity was 'directing' mi- grants at sea to Malta's direc- tion after Italy had closed its ports. "Germany is not even taking them!" the person said. Grixti has insisted that he was referring to the seizure of the boats, and not to sinking the migrants on them. But similar bedfellows took the cue, with some even suggest- ing that this is what happens when a country "is not led by someone like Viktor Orban", the Hungarian right-winger who has now consolidated power in the country with rule by decree due to the coronavirus pandemic. Malta's association of social workers yesterday said the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services was unfit for his job, saying it was unacceptable that the boss of the state agency charged with providing its services to the most vulnerable, ex- presses his opinion that the boats carrying these refugees should be sunk. "This indicates a sentiment which is in complete con- tradiction to the Foundation vision of the organisation he heads, which states [that it will be] 'a catalyst for change and development in the so- cial welfare sector in Malta, consistent with the real and emerging needs of children, families and the community in order to avoid social exclu- sion'. "The Foundation cannot work towards its vision if it is led by a person who does not believe in it." The MASW said the FSWS, a lifeline for vulnerable indi- viduals and within which so many social workers work, could not have at its helm "persons whose views are consistent with its vision. Un- fortunately, Mr Alfred Grixti has indicated clearly that his are not." The University of Malta's dean of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, Prof. Andrew Az- zopardi, said Grixti's defence was pitiful, saying that as FSWS boss he had to main- tain a decorous attitude on migration and all other social issues. "It is completely un- becoming that as the head of the social welfare services in Malta he expresses what can be perceived as anti-migrato- ry statements in such a crude way. Expressing the contemp- tuous remarks without falling into overt racism is equally problematic and his remarks can easily incite and instigate violence in people whose ex- pression of such sentiments does not stop at morally dubi- ous claims but might escalate into violence." Unfit for the job: social workers say Grixti must go seekers at sea on Easter "is an inhumane act. The demand is from desper- ate people and the suppliers are greedy human traf- fickers". NGOs in disbelief An exasperated Carola Rackete, one of the Ger- man principals of the Sea Watch migrant rescue charity, noted the event with desperation: "I feel I have lived that same Easter weekend many years now: boats in distress and not enough help at all, while technically help is available. Right now, not a single rescue ship because of COVID-19. Ref- ugees still flee the civil war and that won't stop… "What worries me is that authorities use the health crisis as an argument to prevent rescue ves- sels to go out at sea or find safe ports. Even though Libya now declared its ports unsafe due to war ac- tivities and shelling, European authorities must be willing and able to deal with several crises at the same time. Apart from a health crisis we still have wars and conflicts, carbon concentration reaching 418 ppm, biodiversity in decline…" Rackete said the real problem was a global crisis of inequality and a crisis of power distribution that were preventing solutions to problems. "It's not that EU authorities don't understand these prob- lems, they do not want to solve them. And I do not want to play down the tremendous crisis which COVID-19 is and will be in the next months. I am deeply sorry for the huge personal loss of so many lives and I am appalled by the lack of solidarity within the EU, particularly by German and Dutch governments." Aditus Foundation led a coalition of NGOs in Malta who said they were shocked at the closure of Malta's ports. "This will result in either people stranded out at sea for days, possibly weeks, or in their return to Libya, where they will probably face atrocious human rights violations. It is unaccept- able for Malta to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to shelve its human rights obligations and endan- ger the lives of men, women and children." The NGOs said that while they appreciate the COVID-19 effort, emergency scenarios do not grant Malta the authority to entirely shelve its human rights obligations. "There are minimum standards that must always be met, a threshold that no State is ever permit- ted cross. We fear that Malta is exploiting the public health emergency to deprive mi- grants of their human dignity, adopting measures veiled as public health protection but having the effect of sacrificing migrants for Malta's safety." International law certain- ly enough is clear: under no circumstances is Malta per- mitted to return persons to a territory where their lives and safety would be at risk, and a public health emergency does not allow Malta to abandon people out at sea. "On a moral level, the decision to close our ports clearly positions the nation's safety, that may cer- tainly be guaranteed through safe disembarkation and shelter measures, far above the lives of those men, women and children who fled their homes and are desperately attempting to reach safety. We find this approach unlawful and despicable," said Aditus CEO Neil Falzon. "We express our serious concern at the way mi- grants are treated as disposable members of our community. While we appreciate Malta's current challenges, we nonetheless insist that migrants must not be sacrificed for the nation's well-being. National emergencies should be overcome with solidarity and compassion. We therefore urge Malta to ensure the rescue and disembarkation of persons within its responsibility and to revise the situation of hundreds of detained persons." Green Party reaction In its reaction, the Green Party said the Maltese government was giving the wrong impression by saying that solidarity can somehow be put under quarantine. "Government declarations that im- migrants escaping Libya and those rescued from drowning will not be helped are plain wrong," Al- ternattiva Demokratika chairperson Carmel Caco- pardo said. "The decision to let in 66 rescued migrants on Good Friday was the right decision. However the COVID-19 crisis does not absolve government of its international obligations. Government is moral- ly obliged to rescue people in distress, not to men- tion legal obligations under international and EU law. "AD supports NGOs which work in the area of migration and supports their stance that Govern- ment has no legal basis for its decisions on deten- tion. There are no limits to solidarity, whatever the Prime Minister says. Yes, Malta has every right to demand help, particularly from EU member states, but government should stop conjuring up excuses to shirk from its responsibilities." Rescued boat migrants aboard Sea-Eye's Alan Kurdi earlier in January 2020 Scuttler of boats... Malta's social welfare boss Alfred Grixti has angered many with his comments SEE OPINION: SAVIOUR BALZAN, MT2 "European authorities must be willing and able to deal with several crises at the same time"