Brussels, 15/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In its latest report on Tuesday 15 October, the Council of Europe's Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) welcomed progress made by Malta on asylum. However, a number of problems remain: a National Action Plan against Racism and Xenophobia has been developed but has never been adopted or published by the authorities.
Very much in the firing line on migratory flows, Malta has now included the principle of non-refoulement of migrants and subsidiary protection in its law, the Council of Europe notes. A Migrant Health Unit has also been set up to address and respond to the specific needs of migrants. Indeed, ECRI speaks of clear progress. Remarkable efforts have been made to improve the asylum determination procedure and caseworkers are properly trained, ECRI reports. In its recommendations, however, it calls for detention of migrants to be the exception and the last resort procedure, and for access to legal aid in appeals cases to be made easier.
Malta's Citizenship Act is problematic, in that it leaves a large margin of discretion in decisions on naturalisation and there is no right to appeal, the report says. A further cause for concern is that most online racist comments go unpunished. (SP/transl.fl)