Malta today joins the rest of the world in celebrating Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, sixty-eight years ago.
This past year was an important one for Malta in terms of the development of human rights legislation and policy.
Following a number of public consultations and meetings with stakeholders, the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties said it has finalised the Equality Bill and the Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill, which will be presented to Parliament for their first reading on Wednesday 14th December. Once they become law, the Bills will restructure and strengthen Malta’s legal framework on human rights and discrimination.
The Government is also working towards the full implementation of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating gender-based violence and domestic violence in our national laws. These laws are intended to strengthen the mechanisms which defend all victims of violence and entrench the principle of freedom from violence in our laws.
With regard to civil liberties, another major initiative by this Ministry was the process towards a Cohabitation Bill, which is now in an advanced stage in the Parliamentary discussion and is expected to be adopted soon. This bill gives couples the right to choose how to regulate their own life, and be granted adequate protection at law.
Malta has also continued to improve life for LGBTIQ persons with the adoption of the Affirmation of Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, which effectively criminalises conversion practices as harmful and deceitful measures. This law has been celebrated internationally as being the first of its kind in Europe. Another law enacted is that of the depathologisation of trans identities.