Although the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) criticized Malta for the way it handled the arrival of 51 Eritrean illegal immigrants aboard the Francisco y Catalina last month, British online magazine The First Post insisted that Malta did “exactly the right thing” and that Britain should strive to emulate Malta’s tough stance on illegal immigration.
The Eritrean illegal immigrants, rescued by a Spanish trawler spent one week stranded in Maltese territorial waters after authorities refused to take them in.
Some illegal immigrants were brought ashore to seek medical treatment in Malta, however, they were later taken back to the trawler.
After a series of diplomatic talks it was agreed the illegal immigrants were brough ashore in Malta to board two separate Spanish military aircraft, one headed towards Italy and the other headed towards Spain.
The Eritrean immigrants were resettled in a number of countries including Italy and the Azores archipelago near Portugal.
The The First Post condoned Malta’s handling of this particular situation and called on English Home Secretary John Reid to consider doing the same. On Monday, he called for official limits on the number of illegal immigrants coming into Britain.
This year, around 1,278 illegal immigrants have reached Maltese land this year. Last week, 70 of these illegal immigrants, all Moroccans, were repatriated to Casablanca on a direct AirMalta flight.
Read more about this issue on MaltaMedia's special feature:
Lanċa Ġejja u Oħra Sejra: Malta and its migrations.
See also:
70 Moroccans who entered Malta in June repatriated
By MaltaMedia News
Aug 6, 2006, 09:34 CET
Illegal immigrants leave Malta
By MaltaMedia News
Jul 21, 2006, 18:25 CET
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