Ministry for Home Affairs

The following text will be sent as email/letter/telefax as appropriate from Proact and the Eurobirders. Those registered with the PROACT team, or who inform me separately, will have their names and country appended to the letter.

To join the PROACT team click on the arctic tern below.

For those wishing just to support the MALTA campaign with their signature send a mail to:

For individualist hardliners I have included addresses and numbers below. Cut, paste and send ..... but please send a copy to project-malta@proactnow.org

!NEW! Mail Address
(copy to Proact is included - please move to cc. or bcc. box)

The Minister for Home Affairs
Dr. Tonio Borg
Casa Leoni
St. Joseph High Road
Santa Verena CMR 02
Malta


Dear Dr. Borg,

You will be aware of the international interest in the bloody flaunting of nature protection laws on the islands of Malta on a regular basis.

These shocking biannual bloody of dead and injured migrating birds have, thanks to modern means of communication, been widely publicised in Europe and beyond. Quite apart from the effect this will undoubtedly have on income from tourism, the impression is gained that the responsible authorities, out of disinterest or through lack of the proper resources, are unwilling and unable to seriously tackle the problem.

As the responsible minister for the police corps and other enforcement agencies, we urge you to ensure that the necessary resources to prevent and eradicate this regular criminal and barbaric activity are put at their disposal.

The shortage or lack of trained and properly equipped personnel are undoubtedly among your primary concerns in this field. You will know that, starting from the year 2000, Malta as a candidate country is entitled to receive technical and financial support for the transposition of the Community acquis, for participation in Community programmes and certain Community agencies and for increasing the Maltese administrative and judicial capacity. We recommend that you give a high priority to an application for assistance with environmental policing and enforcement. Suitable projects might include the improvement of communications in remote areas, enhancement of the mobility and thereby presence of the police by land and sea throughout the islands, and provision of training for, say, Wildlife Liaison Officers, who are deployed in some EU member states.

As a popular tourist destination, Malta will be increasingly confronted with the benefits - but also the problems that the developing and growing Ecotourism phenomenon brings. The importance of a general awareness of environmental legislation and problems at all enforcement levels, and a well-trained and equipped specialist unit or department, for the control of criminal lawbreakers and ecotourists alike, will be of increasing importance to your country.

Although you are certainly faced with many conflicting priorities in the field of home affairs, we urge you to give this matter your personal thought. Apart from the importance of effective and tangible legal enforcement within Malta, you will, as cabinet minister, have an interest in maintaining the external image of your country. In this respect, consequent action against the regular slaughter and trapping of migrating birds will be of considerable benefit to the image of Malta as a whole.

I remain,

Yours sincerely,

David Conlin

and other concerned Eurobirders, ornithologists and nature lovers, named below and representing the following countries:

ADDRESS/CONTACT

Fon: +356 485100-105
Fax: +356 485800

!NEW! Mail Address
(copy to Proact is included - please move to cc. or bcc. box)