Malta to propose plan to resettle refugees

The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat said yesterday that Malta will propose an “ambitious proposal” for a global mechanism to resettle refugees in a long-term action to address the migrant crisis.

Muscat explained that the short term efforts should be focused on saving human lives in the sea as well as establishing legal channels for migration and reception centres in African countries to combat human trafficking.

“In the long run, there should be international institutions to address this problem from a global perspective,” Muscat told the Sunday Times of Malta newspaper.

The prime minister’s comments came as his country prepares to host the EU-Africa summit on migration on Wednesday and Thursday this week as well as an urgent meeting to address the unprecedented number of asylum seekers entering Europe.

“We need a global resettlement mechanism, for example, if necessary Canada could receive immigrants from Syria and this way at least the burden is distributed according to specific regulations and mechanisms,” Muscat said.

The summit will discuss ways to improve the promotion and organisation of legal migration channels in order to address migrant extortion and human trafficking more effectively.

However, critics say the European Union’s agenda is still focused on securing the bloc’s borders without addressing the root causes.