13. Concluding Remarks
Annual Reports for past years have noted the marked improvement in the atmosphere
at the Centre and in the attitude of staff. With more people in charge who show
motivation to care for the detainees, detention can become more serene and less
stressful. Overall the detainees seem to be fairly calm and quite relaxed with the officers
in charge. When interviewed, they rarely or practically never complain about illtreatment.
The Board takes note of its function to monitor the forced retum of immigrants. This is
a very vulnerable time for retuming migrants, and great care needs to be taken to ensure
that the migrants are treated in a humane manner, regardless of the fact that their
behaviour is sometimes rather difficult. It would be ideal if those facing forced return
are removed from the Centre some days prior to their planned departure. During this
time, ideally, a case worker or a social worker should be assigned to those ea1marked for
return, helping them to discuss their difficulties and concerns, and preparing them for
the return trip.
The Board acknowledges that security plays an important role in any establishment of
detention. However, the Board would like to see more emphasis on the welfare of
detainees. Undocumented migrants are persons who have experienced great difficulties
and hardship in reaching this point and, consequently, require all the help they can get
to be able to integrate in any new community and environment.
Andre Camilleri
Chairperson,
Board of Visitors for Detained Persons
January 2016
Annex to Annual Report 2015 - visits to detention centres
11
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