Lawyers in Valletta were banding together to file a judicial protest against Joseph Muscat’s plans for human rights violations
But even as it was being written, the news was announced that the European Court of Human Rights has blocked Joseph Muscat and his liberal government from carrying out their plans.
This after a group of NGOs made an urgent request for an interim measure to teh ECHR itself.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is being refused access to the immigrants. Various humanitarian organisations have told the press that Malta will break various international conventions by sending them back, because Libya is not ranked as a safe country.
The prime minister is speaking in parliament right now and there is only one word to describe his behaviour: disgusting.
It reveals how false he is when he speaks about gay and transgender issues, and how he does it only for votes. It is impossible for the same person to respect the rights of homosexuals while violating human rights in defiance of a European Court of Human Rights ruling.
The same mindset cannot encompass both, which means that his support for ‘gay and transgender rights’ is a false one of convenience and not of conviction.
Brussels has sounded the warning already. So we are going to war with Europe now, while aligning ourselves with China and Libya again.
If I had been one of those people banging on at parties about how I’m voting Labour because they’re so amazing, and banging on afterwards about how we have to give them a chance, I’d be digging a great hole right now and diving into it.
Exactly the same thing happened in 1996. Within three months, nobody had voted Labour anymore. ‘What me? As if.’
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This has shaken the PL voters to the core. I believe even some Labour MPs are worried now. I think Muscat should resign.
Muscat is going to have to make a U-Turn, and now he will say that he is adhering to international law.
So why was he defying international law up to the time the ECHR decision?
Joseph Muscat should resign. But before, he should explain why he continues to support John Dalli in his official position of de facto Minister of Health.
Well I am a PN voter and have always voted PN since I was 18 and I declare that I will fully support Joseph Muscat if he sends back the illegal immigrants or implements a push back policy.
All illegal immigrants, be they from Africa, Asia, the Middle East or Eastern Europe should be expelled.
[Daphne – Good on you, Chris. We should always vote in line with the development of our political beliefs, because supporting a party is not supporting a football club, but a whole set of values and policies. That’s why I vote Nationalist despite not growing up in a Nationalist extended family. And yes, you are right, xenophobes and racists should vote Labour. So should those who believe there is occasional justification for the violation of human rights in defiance of ECHR rulings. Their beliefs are most definitely at odds with those of the Nationalist Party. At least you have the sense to see that you support the wrong party, or rather, that your beliefs are at odds with those of the party for which you vote. Not many have that insight, and keep voting out of habit.]
Resign? You must be off your head. He has INCREASED his support because thousands of PN supporters AGREE with him.
[Daphne – And thousands of those who voted Labour this time don’t agree with him at all, and are ashamed to be associated with it. If you have got into power on the strength of the (however deluded) liberal vote, you don’t go round violating human rights and doing battle with teh ECHR and the European Union while promoting China as your new best friend. In any case, you are not a PN voter.]
Go back to Times of Malta. Your far right friends need you there to defend Muscat’s U-turn enforced by the ECHR.
ECHR 1 – Muscat 0
I don’t see that many PN voters backtracking at the moment Albert.
…and by the grace of God I will NEVER be a PN voter again. Ms Caruana Galizia, I urge you to go out and talk to people and hear what they feel and where their sympathy lies. That may perhaps convince you not to live in dreamland anymore. You have already contributed heavily to losing thousands of votes for the PN and you seem hell-bent on doing it again. Are you by any chance a masochist?
[Daphne – You never were a PN voter, Albert. Nobody admired by Marie Benoit ever is. And I see you still haven’t learned to write, despite all the space you were given to rant and rave about your ‘progressive’ views.]
Dear Daphne, pronouncing on the ability or otherwise of a person’s writing capability depends on personal perception i.e. the eye of the beholder. The tendency is to judge others by one’s standards. Yours are abominably low because you specialise in gutter thrash and muck-raking. You tend to judge the standards of others by your own. Why not write to Rupert Murdoch and ask him to revive “The News of the World” and appoint you as chief correspondent?
[Daphne – Mr Fenech, you can’t write. And this derives from the fact that you can’t think rationally. Live with it.]
As if. One Labour supporter who’s in the EU Ministry (purely via political allegiance) writes:
“U nahseb kullhadd Domenico Savio hawn..kulhadd iridhom jibqaw hawn l-immigranti illegali! u haluni!”
There is no way to deal with such people who are led to see no compromise, only a zero-sum game of immigrants either being here or being kicked out for the sake of the ‘national interest’.
There wasn’t one single Nazi in Germany after 1945, either.
But in Germany, the Nazis were processed UNDER LAW for their atrocities. Justice was done. That’s why there were no Nazis after 1945.
And the fact that the same didn’t happen here after the Golden Years is why we’re in this mess to begin with.
I fully agree. This should be a PN promise for the next election. All injustices made by Labour to be made good and the perpetrators to face justice.
If Muscat doesn’t have any regard for these peoples’ human rights, I wonder how much OUR human rights will be violated within the next four and a half years.
Well said, and what a flop he would have made of international relations by then.
That is one fundamental reason, but not the only one, why we should show solidarity with the immigrants when the government is violating their rights.
This government is proving to be strong with the weak, and weak with the strong, like the millionairess who lives in a corner flat in Sliema with false passports issued outside Malta.
Isn’t she an ILLEGAL immigrant?
Has Joseph Muscat explained about John Dalli as yet?
Joseph jigi jitnejjek milli tghid l-Unjoni Ewropeja u milli qal il-Papa l-bierah.
Jigi jitnejjek ukoll mil-fama tajba li ghandna(?) ta’ Malta hanina .
Will these same racists, xenophobes, and bigots organise themselves to deport imported wives?
At last some good news. But brace yourselves for 5 years of fascist hell.
The son of Maltese immigrants, world famous cartoonist Joe Sacco, on the subject of immigration:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/jul/17/joe-sacco-unwanted-immigrants
I’d definitely deport anyone with a tinge of red in their hair.
The Maltese are an olive-skinned, dark-haired Mediterranean people.
How about a tee-shirt print: ‘I’m ashamed of my racist government’.
B’dan l-agir Joseph Muscat veru messu jisthi! Flok qabad u ikkustinja mal-UE biex jtfahhom x’imkien fejn ikunu jistaw jghixu ahjar (jeskludi lill-Malta) qabad u tefahhom minn fejn gew.
Naqbel li m’hawnx post izda flok naqbad u naghtihom “the death sentence” nara fejn jistaw imorru jekk m’hemmx nitfahhom minn fejng gew mela naqbad u naffeg kollox.
The European Court of Human Rights is the Strasbourg Court and not part of the EU system.
Brussels is either working behind the scenes or not doing anything at all.
But whatever, this sheer inhumanity and lack of conscience will soon make us one of the pariah states. And at that point – adieu EU.
Malta is probably the most disposable of the EU states from an EU perspective and it can become more trouble than it’s worth. And, given Joseph and friends’ utter shortsightedness, I think they will actually consider that a side-benefit.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130709/local/busuttil-government-is-morally-politically-and-legally-wrong.477309
Unfortunately I’m afraid he has overwhelming support, numerically, from Cikku l-Poplu, and not just among the Laburisti and the so called switchers. It is very sad and unfortunate but true.
He knows and understands full well the deeply ingrained xenophobia in our society and is using it to the fullest extent possible.
No matter how vociferous the opposition to his actions will be he will be comfortable in the knowledge that the numbers are in his favour.
Numbers are never enough, not when they’re made up of uninformed, misinformed and unformed minds. That kind of support can only blow up in your face.
I’m afraid the fact that numbers are enough is amply evidenced by the election we had just a few months ago.
An uninformed, misinformed and unformed mind has the exact same voting power as any other mind.
True, but once they’ve voted you into power, there are other forces to contend with, as we have seen today.
Hitler too had the numbers in his favour. Did that make what he did any better?
Everybody seems to forget the days when collection and school money used be sent to ‘Africa’ to help the poor. Now the situation has actually changed, once they found them on the door step.
Our Aryan Prime Minister wants to teach the niggers a lesson.
Shocking.
Our Prime Minister is a Europid.
And our Security Minister is a Tuboflipid
Go Beppe!
He is trying to be a bully, Mintoff style international relations, they never change.
There is only a simple explanation to all this.
There was NO road map at all to govern. What they had was a business plan, a money-making, profit-sharing scheme involving the ones at the top plus a few businessmen.
Everything they’re mentioning is over a 10-year period/contract. Power supplier, land reclamation permits. Everybody knows who’s getting what.
Ma tarax! Dawk mhux suwed.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Joseph-Muscat-kisses-Popes-ring.jpg
Hello to all you PN and DCG arse-lickers. You will of course NOT upload this comment because it goes contrary to your arse-licking. So, this is a message to all you emasculated, domina-controlled eunuchs. The vast majority of the people of Malta and Gozo DO NOT WANT this regular invasion of illegal immigrants – period. Get this into your fatheads. This is NOT a party political matter, but a NATIONAL matter. It is understood that you have ALWAYS been in favour of licking foreign arses (the PN has a lengthy and ongoing record of this).. If these illegal immigrants want to start a new life, why are they rejected EVERYWHERE as long as Malta, Italy and Greece accommodates them? So, this is a message to all the emasculated – either continue to follow the eunuch Simon Busuttil and domina DCG, or wake up, grow a pair and get cracking.
Is this you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3fD1VYSY2U
Hey Albert, with the capital letters. (Says something right there.)
Who’s ass do you lick, your dog’s? Sick fuck.
Call yourself a Europid? You don’t even know basic Latin.
Domina is a lady, as in the female of ‘lord’. If there’s one woman in Malta who deserves the title, it’s Daphne Caruana Galizia.
F*ck off, Albert Fenech. Go back to those scum at Imperium Europa and the PL.
Get a life, Albert Fenech.
I see that Daphne is hitting where it hurts most, and your only form of defence is attack a la Labour.
Can’t keep up a decent argument, can you?
The way you formulated your comment shows how intellectual you are. And while you invited us to grow a pair, my invitation to you is to get a proper education.
Within three months, nobody had voted Labour anymore. ‘What me? As if.’- It has already happened. So many people are now backtracking.
Might as well have Norman Lowell in government if it’s come to this.
At least, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, however delusional he is, Norman Lowell’s honest about his intentions.
Who told you he may not be in it. I am sure he helped him by telling his followers to vote Joseph. Now he would also demand his iced bun.
The sad thing is that the great majority of those who posted comments on The Times website were in favour of sending the migrants back. Depressing.
I’m afraid Albert Fenech (who had a weekly column in the Malta News, as Phoenix, during the Golden Years) is right in that the majority of the Maltese are racists including thousands of PN supporters.
There is more going on here than people give credit for.
Illegal Immigrants are just that. Illegals… Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants, they are people running for their lives. I welcome Asylum seekers and shun Illegals. There is nothing wrong with sending Illegals back to their country of origin, and anyone making a stand on this is going to get a hell of a lot of crap in public opinion, when they really shouldn’t.
Lawyers want illegals, because they deal with law.. so they get more business to more illegals there are (including business financed by public funds.) Asyum seekers (just as in my home, Australia) risk life and limb to flee and have nothing when they arrive. The problem is illegals just want a better life and pay 1000’s to smugglers to get them here, then knowing they have to play the ‘asylum card’ they destroy/hide all their documents to try and make out they are Asylum seekers… this has two effects:
1/ Genuine Asylum seekers are placed in more danger because it’s a lot harder to prove that they are genuine.
2/ More resources are needed to investigate the differences and let in the genuines vs the illegals.
By sending back illegals as fast as they come or placing harsh restrictions (like the camps in Australian territories) many find their ticket to riches is a ticket to financial ruin and don’t bother. Genuine Asylum seekers still come, and they sit and wait through the hardships because they know its their chance at life… this is why a few years ago the illegals in Australian camps incited riots in an attempt to make it even harder for the authorities to tell the genuine people in danger against those that just wanted to pay their way to smugglers.
Please everyone, attack the government if they send back asylum seekers, but do not attack them if they send back illegals. We do not want illegals here, they come, they take they move on. Asylum seekers come, they are thankful and they improve our communities.
Regards,
Michelle
[Daphne – Michelle, people like you make me desperate. You go about pronouncing yourselves when you haven’t even registered the essential facts of the matter. That is what this issue is all about: THE FACT THAT THESE MEN ARE BEING SENT BACK BEFORE THEY ARE ABLE TO APPLY FOR ASYLUM AND WITHOUT BEING GIVEN ACCESS TO REFUGEE AGENCIES. Unbelievable. Really, truly unbelievable.]
Daphne – I am aware of that in this case, and it is something that should be attacked in *this* case… However, there have been a lot of outcries over illegals recently, and most of them are without people realising there is more to it and that those attacks are not necessarily well founded.
[Daphne – If you were aware of the situation in this case, you would have spoken differently. You pander to the notion that African people in jobs in Malta, or out on the streets, are ‘illegal’. If they were ‘illegal’, they wouldn’t be out and about.]
Actually I’m not. I am referring to what is happening here is almost identical to what happened a few years ago in Australia… at the time there were similar outcries about people being detained etc.. When it came to the actual stats, less than 1 in 10 that arrived by boat were genuine asylum seekers… and few boats that arrived had anything but illegals. (ie it was found that one in ten boats had asylum seekers, and most of those that did had most of the occupants being the genuines.. 9 out of the 10 boats were full of illegals with no asylum seekers on board. How do we know that in this case the entire boat wasn’t well of people looking to get in at the expense of the genuine people?.. we don’t – that doesn’t mean I’m either right or wrong with my post, I’m just saying, people should look at the real issues and facts, rather those that would just take a shot at lining their own pockets… and Daphne, that is not criticism of you, you blog about things close to your heart, just as I do and I can’t fault you for that.. I’m just saying this is very like what happened in Australia several years ago, and it turned out that the lawyers involved were just out to line their own pockets (and indeed it was only a few there, the other signatories were just asked for their name..))
Michelle, not all who apply may qualify for protection but seeking asylum is never illegal. It’s one of our fundamental human rights.
And more importantly, it’s not our documents that make us people.
It’s sad that you, and so many others, have to overcomplicate something that’s so simple.
@REX
I think you misunderstand my position. I do not consider those that are fleeing and don’t qualify, as illegals In fact I feel sorry for those because I believe they should be granted asylum. What I hate is those that have money that deliberatly destroy their documents and pay their way onto boats and make genuine asylum seekers get sent back because rules get harder…
90% of those to turned up a few years ago in Australia fitted into the category above, and consequently many genuine asylum seekers where likely sent back because of the fakes.
The other thing I hate is people making money off the less fortunate (well actually I hate anyone that rips someone else off, but particularly those that prey on the less fortunate).. and my experience is lawyers are in it for themselves, and their putting their names to this complaint is a repeat of Australia 5 years ago when the lawyers were not concerned with Human Rights or genuine Asylum seekers, they were just looking to line their pockets. This particular case stinks of the same, and based on the general hatred of any boat people, the comments and protests I see I have to attribute to people thinking of themselves not the people that are fleeing for their lives with only the clothes on their backs… I’ll be happy if people prove me wrong, but words alone will not cut it with me, I’ve see it all before….
I have not misunderstood your position, Michelle. You don’t seem to understand that everyone has the right to put in a claim for asylum, even if they don’t qualify, or, to use your terminology, are “illegals”. The point is the system needs to allow them their right to apply.
About your other argument, I’m yet to hear of a migrant coming to seek asylum, even if an “illegal”, and had ‘lawyer’ at the top of their list of priorities. Somehow I feel ‘food’, ‘home’, ‘work’, ‘family’ and ‘resettlement’ would have ranked slightly higher.
That’s not because they don’t need it, but because they can’t afford it. Far from a money-making opportunity. Most people know that, especially the lawyers you mention.
But this time they cannot deny it that they have voted labour because they have been all over the internet and all over the island on its billboards. How irrational and stupid. I’m so glad I have never ever been in – in their cesspit.
Oh come on Albert Fenech, as much as you are a heavy smoker you are a diehard Laburist.
Dan mhux suppost kellu roadmap ghal kollox?
Ma jistax jghid li din il-problema nesija ghax waqt l-elezzjoni taht it-tinda lil-emigranti kien ippogijhom warajh biex jinqabdu mill cameras IPPOKRITA DAQS DAN IL-PRIM MINISTRU MALTA QATT MA RAT.
Yes, he had a roadmap. It was one full of cul-de-sacs and no-entry signs which Labour ignores on purpose. Today’s events were just one of such violations. They are now lost somewhere in one of those cul-de-sacs, trying to find their way back with dignity, that same dignity which they tried to deny the immigrants.
I think he had a roadmap for a labyrinth with no destination. And right now they (we) are circling somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Can these asylum seekers be given Maltese passports and hence automatically become EU citizens, free to travel anywhere around Europe? I am totally ignorant on these issues and the idea seems very simplistic but I just wondered if it was at all possible. This would be one of the ways for giving these people a hope for a better future and at the same time burden sharing with the rest of Europe in a legal manner.
[Daphne – No, of course not. EU member states can’t go about issuing passports to all-comers, because it affects everyone else. And that’s tantamount to selling your passports anyway.]