The Anti Poverty Forum has slammed the recent arraignments of homeless people, who were charged in court with loitering, begging and living idle, vagrant lives last month, following police raidscarried out in collaboration with the Cleansing and Maintenance Division.
The Anti Poverty Forum has stated that the arraignment of these several vagrant individuals “demonstrates a deeply misguided approach to addressing poverty.” It said that poverty is best tackled through compassion, yet the approach undertaken in these recent events is criminalising individuals experiencing homelessness or destitution, rather than offering them meaningful support.
It said that in a country currently “beaming with unprecedented economic growth,” the situation which has arisen here “is indicative of unacceptable compromises we have allowed to root within our society.”
The Forum held that public discourse has already sidelined the homeless persons who were charged with loitering and begging in June.
On 4 June, a number of homeless persons were arraigned following numerous complaints about loitering and harassment in Marsa and Ħamrun. Community police found the accused sleeping rough, some behind containers, others on makeshift mattresses in garages.
A court sentence was later issued on 23 June, sending 13 homeless people each into two months’ detention on charges related to their homelessness after eventually pleading guilty to their charges. While in court, one of the accused had said: “the court is accusing me just because I sleep outside, as if I have a choice!”
While recognising that in this case, the Police Force was enforcing the law as they are meant to, as well as the importance of upholding public safety, the Forum expressed deep irony that the raid was conducted by Community Police – “a section which aims to ‘enhance community engagement,’ and which had been collaborating with a number of entities in the community to help guide homeless people towards social support services.”
The Anti Poverty Forum observed that “several years of trust-building have gone undone in one instance” as a result of this action.
It expressed great concern on the criminalisation of homelessness, “because sleeping rough is not anyone’s choice but is the result of many of society’s failures which evidently lead people to desperation.”
In this court case, those charged gave passionate testimonies where they informed the Court that they do not sleep outside out of pleasure but because of their dire circumstances and struggles to find work.
‘Criminalisation of poverty does not improve the situation’
This Forum stated that criminalising poverty does not effectively combat nor improve the situation surrounding it.
“Criminalisation does not support people to work their way out of destitution to a better quality of life,” it said.
The Forum said that according to research and experience, poverty is alleviated when addressed with compassion, and that “the process which these persons have been taken through directly contradicts that principle.”
The Anti Poverty Forum urged policymakers to review the laws which criminalise poverty and to introduce legislation that “is truly effective in helping people secure a more dignified life.” It added that in Malta’s present affluence, “resources are not an issue,” and that this small demographic of people can be supported enough to enable them to become contributors to society, from benefit recipients.
It praised Malta’s “strong welfare state tradition” to support society’s most vulnerable and that unfortunately, this tradition is “being ‘contaminated’ by the idea that some of the poor amongst us are undeserving of such support,” which it said was “highly concerning.”
“It is precisely because the persons are not in a strong enough position to contribute towards society that they need support,” the Anti Poverty Forum declared.
The Forum also condemned the involvement of the Department of Cleansing in the raid that rounded up the homeless persons some weeks ago.
“The implicit message that these human beings are equated with ‘garbage’ reinforces social wrath towards people in pitiful situations, further limiting the public’s capacity for compassion towards the vulnerability of these individuals,” it stated.
The Forum continued that “charging and imprisoning these people is not the way to address the growing issue of rooflessness in Malta,” and that raids resolve none of the underlying issues that can truly address poverty, such as unemployment, insufficient social support services, and lacking affordable housing.
It said that as a country, the Maltese islands should be actively focusing on developing the necessary structures to lift such people out of poverty, rather than strike them down through the law courts.
The Anti Poverty Forum continued expressing concern that the vulnerability of homeless persons is not being cared for appropriately. It said that “the denial of bail and the use of a ‘care plan’ during incarceration further convolutes the logic with which these people’s vulnerability is being addressed.”
“Punishing people with incarceration for being at the receiving end of systemic failures, while trying to engage them in ‘care’ by offering them a care plan are diametrically opposite stances reflecting the unstructured manner in which these real human issues are being tackled,” the Forum said.
It added that forcing such people into detention “will most likely not achieve the desired results” and is an “unacceptable and inhumane method of engagement.”
The Anti Poverty Forum comprises 20 NGOs engaged in various aspects of poverty in Malta.