Since we live in Malta, we have to see the implications of divorce on the Maltese children.
According to established international descriptions of what is a child, the most widely accepted description is that a child is a person who has not yet reached 18 years of age.
Our legislature is littered with different descriptions of the child – just go on the legal webpage of the laws Malta and have a look at the different ages of minors (children) described in the Care Orders Act, the Safety at Work Act, the Marriage Act, the Custody Act and the Commissioner for Children Act, to name but a few.
Then, every child has a right to live life in a family environment. In Malta, there are more than 300 children living in care (Church institutions), and the main reason is our discriminatory laws which give all rights to the so-called parents while children have no rights whatsoever.
The adoption law of 1962 states that parents whose names are shown on the birth certificate will always have custody of their children even though they might have abandoned their children for a number of years (in the care of Church institutions), and never actually cared for them either emotionally or financially. A case of all rights and no obligations.
Children have the right to a good standard of living, which includes free compulsory education and free health care. These issues are very complex, but with regard to education in Malta, we still do not have school subjects in the Maltese language (except for Maltese, religion and perhaps social studies).
All children in the European Union study school subjects in their mother tongue, but for Maltese children this is impossible (according to the Maltese education department), and they are made to study most subjects in English. According to international child psychologists, this spells as emotional abuse for all those children who cannot mentally translate school subjects from English to Maltese.
Lack of respect between genders and lack of proper sex education is making promiscuity the order of the day for a large number of teenagers. We lack the necessary health clinics to cater for this relatively new problem. Although there is a health unit which promotes safe-sex, lack of proper laws and proper funding is making this unit’s health programme yet just another publicity campaign.
This is the actual environment where Maltese children live. An environment which urgently needs to update its legislature in in order to safeguard children’s rights and best interests.
On a positive note we must congratulate Sedqa for organising monthly teenage parties at Msida.
With or without divorce, couples who find it impossible to continue their married life are opting to live separate lives. Therefore, with or without divorce, the main issue remains how to best care for children and save them from having to live an unfortunate life, just because their parents decided to end their marriage or because their parents are irresponsible adults.
Miriam Cassar
FDT (Favur id-Drittijiet tat-Tfal)
Zejtun