Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1533839
9 ANALYSIS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 MARCH 2025 NICOLE MEILAK nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt DECODING ROBERT ABELA'S 'HUMAN RIGHTS' REFORM MALTATODAY EXPLORES THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL WRONGS BEHIND ROBERT ABELA'S PUSH FOR EUROPEAN CONVENTION REFORM IT was a Saturday in November 1950 when the leaders of 12 countries gathered in Rome to sign a document securing certain rights and freedoms within their jurisdictions. They took the principles already laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and made them binding, even creating an international court to hold the signatories to account. It has been 75 years since leaders signed this document – the European Convention of Human Rights. There are now 46 countries party to the con- vention due to their membership in the Council of Europe, which is conditional to the ratification of the convention. And 75 years later, Malta will as- sume the presidency of the Council of Europe and begin talks to reform this convention to "reflect mod- ern-day realities". Prime Minister Robert Abela caught people off guard, including members of his own government, when he proposed human rights convention reform during a migra- tion meeting with European coun- terparts. Political parties in Malta asked him to clarify his comments, to which he said that loopholes and a restrictive interpretation of the Eu- ropean Convention of Human Rights merit reform. Days later, he argued that Malta should be able to deport asylum seekers who commit crimes, and that if a country is "5% unsafe", the government should be able to list that country as safe for deportation. Abela's stance is unsurprising. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has stopped Malta from deporting people a couple of times, each time citing the same articles of the human rights convention. Meanwhile, since Giorgia Melo- ni has maintained Italy's non-con- frontational stance with Malta over who should be taking in migrants rescued at sea, the government feels Malta should keep relations as warm as possible to avoid a return to the stand-offs seen under previous right-wing governments in Italy. However, an unsurprising stance can still be concerning, especially when the human rights of vulnerable people are being called into ques- tion. But before we can begin to un- derstand the implications of Abela's position, we must understand the fundamental issues being brought up about the EU's migration policy. CONTINUES NEXT PAGE A country of return may be deemed safe but it could still be unsafe for certain vulnerable groups such as women, minorities or individuals