Human life

Published: February 26, 2009 at 3:31pm

Is the prime minister the only member of parliament who realises that when we speak about illegal immigrants, we are speaking about human life?

Or does human life begin and end with conception, embryos and Gift of Life?

I wonder whether Joseph Muscat, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Josie Muscat and all the rest of the ‘tow them back’ brigade realise that this would be the inevitable result of their desired approach: we tow out the living and the dead float back to shore. From yesterday’s news reports –

Corpse found at Little Armier
The police have recovered the corpse of a man found at Little Armier bay this afternoon. The presence of the corpse was reported at about 1 pm. Magistrate Antonio Mizzi has appointed court experts to assist in an inquiry. The police said an autopsy will be held tomorrow.




9 Comments Comment

  1. Emanuel Muscat says:

    @DCG
    Do you realise that our future in terms of religion,race and politics is being dictated by a foreign country? Libya is dumping people as if we are a bringin site( I am quite sure that the immigrants are being transported to a place near Malta in a mother ship and during the night they are disembarked into the overflowing boat within the cellular mobile Malta coverage so they can just call their friends who are already here and ask for assistance!).The maltese MEP elections in June 2009 will be heavily affected by this illegal immigration.Why is it so bad that in fair weather our armed forces escort the boats to an area near the 25 mile coastal limit of the country where they are coming from,with enough fuel,food and water to make it comfortably to the coast? We should also send the bill of these operations to the offending country!

  2. christian says:

    What is the international law? If I am not mistaken, countries like USA, Australia and even the UK in Europe, do their best to protect their borders. All these countries, and others send back every person with a discrepancy in documents, let alone no documents whatsoever. The article above is based on what JPO literally said: ‘tow them out’. We don’t want to tow them out, we are asking that if they have no reason to be here, please send them back to their country. If their country is not safe enough, then, just like what is happening now, we’ll grant them the refugee status, as long as they work an agreed number of hours. We don’t want to see more money going to benefits. Just an after thought: if let say 70% of the illegal immigrants that are in these open centres to-date are granted refugee status in the next 18 months, do we have enough jobs to offer them to help them fens for themselves, and if not, how are we/they going to manage financially?

  3. Corinne Vella says:

    Christian: The determination of refugee status does not depend on the willingness to work or on the availability of paid work. In the case of the former, most (if not all) immigrants would qualify for refugee status, and that would be without due process.

    All the countries you mention do not arbitrarily send back everyone on the basis of a ‘discrepancy in their documents’. Being in possession of a full set of documents is not an essential condition of the right to apply for asylum. Depriving a person of the right to apply for asylum, whether or not that person is repatriated, means that the recipient country has violated international law.

    A misunderstanding of rights and the due process of law is not entirely your fault, particularly when people who should know better pronounce themselves on the subject in a misleading manner.

  4. C Chircop says:

    Daphne,so one may understand the full context of Powell’s speech, I suggest one goes through the official BBC documentary on his life and on the subject of immigration:

    (the ‘Hero’ title and his comments on youtube do not reflect the objective and correct content of the documentary)

    Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwO6v9POt74

    Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFTThC17vqI

    Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7YBv9TeQpA

    Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_jXoTpPnzU

    Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LKHAkpv22o

    Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgHh29Vhhg

    Just remember that situation in Malta is different. A number of immigrants (unlike those who went into UK) have an unknown past, and it is likely that some have a criminal record and dubious intentions. Not all are genuine refugees.

    [Daphne – ‘A number of immigrants {unlike those who went into UK) have an unknown past’ – there speaks the man from Malta, which dispatched most of its criminals to London in the post-war period, making it an embarrassment to be Maltese in Britain during the 1950s, 1960s and even 1970s. Among the very people Powell argued against having in Britain were – yes – the Maltese. And going by the subsequent track record, he was probably right.]

  5. Leonard says:

    Talk of missed opportunities: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090226/local/sacrifices-during-lent-urged

    Now if our Bishops had urged the Maltese to show some love and compassion towards illegal immigrants …

  6. Christian says:

    This is not just a Maltese problem. Brits are talking about their European brothers:

    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090226/tuk-voters-want-immigration-level-cut-6323e80.html

  7. Christian says:

    don’t know if anyone else posted this link, but I thought it is very informative:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090225/local/a-simmering-problem

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