European Court stops refugee deportation from Malta

(Vatican Radio) Just a day after Pope Francis condemned the globalization of indifference to the plight of migrants during his visit from Lampedusa, the European Court of Human Rights made an emergency intervention to stop Malta from flying a group of Somali refugees to Libya.

More than 400 migrants have arrived in the past week, arriving by boat from Libya, but most originating from Somalia, Eritrea, and other countries. Malta had planned on returning them, but the government said it would comply with Tuesday’s order by the European Court.

The former director of Jesuit Refugee Service Malta, Father Joseph Cassar, SJ, told Vatican Radio Malta is straining to provide help to refugees arriving on its shores.

“The climate right now is one of concern among the general public because they see there are a lot of boat migrant arrivals, and the fear is that people seeking protection here may just swamp the limited resources of the island,” he said.

Father Cassar said more help should be given by the rest of the European Union.

“Naturally the Maltese point of view is that Malta is a member-state of the European Union, and one of the coastal states on the southern border, feels left very much to its own devices by the larger member states on mainland Europe,” he said.

Father Cassar said the European Court was right to act, since refugees were not be repatriated to their homeland, but to Libya, which is “still not safe” for migrants.

Listen to interview by Charles Collins with Fr. Cassar: