Repubblika responded today to a call made a few days ago by Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar for recommendations to go into a national anti-racism and anti-xenophobia policy that still needs to be drawn up.
Repubblika submitted 17 proposals summarised in this short video:
In its response to Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar’s call, Repubblika pointed out the government’s inconsistency when it declares it wants an anti-racism policy whilst implementing racist policies itself. “The government’s discourse led and encouraged racism, hate speech and a justification on racialist grounds for discrimination against, and the denial of basic human rights of, people purely on the basis of the colour of their skin.”
Repubblika said that Malta “cannot seriously begin to consider anti-racism policies when the country retains a policy of cooperation with the authorities in Libya to arrange for the unlawful detention, torture, enslavement, exploitation and rape of migrants.”
“Any “anti-racist” policy program must remove or phase-out the forced ghettoisation of migrants in refugee camps, particularly the Ħal Far Tent Village and other smaller centres where appalling conditions are compounded by racial profiling and institutionalised discrimination,” Repubblika said. “And we will not be able to visualise an anti-racist Malta, if we are unable to visualise people not born in Malta serving in public office, the military, the judiciary, the police and the senior civil service.”
Repubblika’s position paper can be downloaded here: (Anti-racism response document).