The home affairs ministry rubbishes a report published by the International Detention Coalition which highlights the plight of a 16-year-old Sudanese boy who was kept in detention for two months in Malta.
The International Detention Coalition's report calls for the detention of child migrants to be outlawed.
The Ministry for Home and Parliamentary Affairs refuted a report published today by the International Detention Coalition entitled Captured Childhood, which claims that Malta holds under-age migrants in detention for prolonged periods of time.
The International Detention Coalition's report calls for the detention of child immigrants to be outlawed worldwide. The report described the plight of a 16-year-old Sudanese boy kept in detention for two months in Malta.
According to the report, the boy had fled Sudan after seeing his sisters raped and his father and brother killed.
The Captured Childhood report urges all countries to develop laws and practices to grant asylum-seekers and refugee children the freedom to reside in the community while their cases are assessed.
The ministry described the report as "a complete fabrication."
"Although Malta pursues a policy of detention with respect to those entering the country illegally, such policy is not applied without regard to humanitarian considerations. As a matter of fact vulnerable persons, including all minors, are not subject to the detention requirement," the ministry said.
The statement added that freedom of such persons is restricted only until such time as the relevant medical clearance is obtained. "Once such clearance is obtained, usually in a matter of days, minors are housed in apposite Open Centres with their family members, whereas if unaccompanied, they are housed in apposite centres for minors. Unaccompanied minors are also issued with a Care Order in accordance with national legislation," the home affairs ministry said.
However the ministry added that "unfortunately there are border line cases when the precise age of any person may not be immediately determined, or when the minor does not declare him or herself as such. There are also instances where persons declare themselves to be minors and are found not to be such. Notwithstanding such difficulties, the Maltese authorities continue to make every effort to ensure that minors are accorded the protection and services they require."
