Malta on Amnesty International 'baddies' list

A couple of days ago Amnesty International published its annual report for 2004. Among other things, the report condemns terrorist assaults by groups such as Al Qaeda, saying they posed a threat to security around the world. It also criticizes the response of the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing," saying its powerful governments were ignoring international laws by sacrificing human rights in the "blind pursuit" of security.

Amnesty says that the U.S.-led war on terror continues to be waged using indiscriminate and disproportionate means. Hundreds of foreign nationals remain in indefinite detention without charge or trial in U.S. custody. It also details alleged unlawful killings of civilians by coalition troops in Iraq and allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers.

The Amnesty International report also criticized several European nations, including Malta. The small island nation, which has just joined the EU, was scorned by Amnesty for tough new policies on asylum seekers.

The automatic and excessively lengthy detention of asylum-seekers in Malta has been criticized by national and international bodies. The conditions of detention in facilities in Malta holding asylum-seekers and migrants fall short of international standards.

Amnesty International says that new information has emerged reinforcing concern that a number of individuals among a group of some 220 Eritreans deported from Malta to Eritrea in 2002 were detained and tortured on return. An inquiry is presently being run in Malta about this.

Since the Maltese government is currently giving sway to proclamations from the Roman Catholic church, let's hope that more human compassion is also extended to asylum-seekers than has been offered to them in the last few years.

Beyond the separation of church and state

I can't say I'm surprised by the current drama over the mention of Christianity in the EU constitution. The plot has thickened in the last few days.

Malta has added its voice to that of new EU members Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in supporting a claim originally made by Italy and Portugal, after Spain's new socialist government withdrew its support for this stand.

This insistence that the EU recognize Europe's Christian traditions in its constitution has already met with firm objections from Britain, France and Germany.

I'm hoping that this issue will bring up new discussions about the separation of church and state in Malta. The current political environment over ideas such as reproductive rights and divorce are clearly driven by a lack of appreciation of the subtleties of the relationship between liberty and religious values, from conservative Maltese politicians.

For me this is one of the good things that Malta's membership in the EU has already brought: the possibility to discuss the rights for free thinking individuals. If the price to pay for this is a mention of the Holy Roman Christian Empire in the EU constitution, so be it! I doubt history needs an EU constitution to serve as a banner for the good, the bad and the ugly that came out of Christianity in the last two millennia.