The country prides itself in having made huge strides to better protect the environment and legislation to protect animals also exists, but the Children’s Act has long been in the pipeline and does not seem to have a very high priority on the country’s agenda. Francesca Vella spoke to MIRIAM CASSAR, a woman who has been giving her all to improve the position of children in society by trying to create a pressure group in the form of a children’s rights movement

Miriam Cassar, a former kindergarten assistant who claims her two passions in life are children and the Maltese language, has been giving her all in favour of children’s rights for the past seven years.

Claiming that although she has often received support from a number of lawyers, social workers and other people working in the education sector, this enthusiastic woman says it is very difficult to find people who are ready to give enough time and commitment to form a movement.

Mrs Cassar, clearly very persevering, does not give up however; using the Maltese name Favur id-Drittijiet tat-Tfal Maltin (FDT – in favour of Maltese children’s rights), she uses her resources as best she can.

“What makes me strive to try to put pressure on the authorities is the fact that whenever I speak out by means of letters I send for publication in newspapers for example, I do get feedback and a number of people do believe that children truly deserve to be a top priority on the country’s agenda,” says Mrs Cassar.

Moreover, the need for a pressure group in this regard is highlighted by the fact that the Laws of Malta include different definitions as regards the age when one reaches adulthood, so it is impossible to fully protect children when different parts of our legislation give different versions as regards who children really are, she argues.

It is rather surprising for example, that according to the Marriage Act, one can get married at 14 in Malta, but the Children and Young Persons (Care Orders) Act states that a child is any person under 16.

To complicate matters even further, the Commissioner for Children Act, does not specify the actual age and only states that a “‘child’ means any person who has not attained majority”.

These are just three examples, because other parts of the legislation give different ages as regards who our minors really are and so one reverts to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, explains Mrs Cassar, since this gives the most widely-accepted definition of a child – “every human being below the age of 18 years”.

Malta signed and ratified the convention in 1990 and it is obliged to send a report on the state of the Maltese children every five years. Mrs Cassar explains that when she was reading for a Diploma in Diplomatic Studies, her long essay “Protecting Children in Armed Conflict: the role of NGOs” focused on the rights of the child and the UN convention proved to be very useful in her research.

“I have always been passionate about children and I wanted to look into their position and the welfare of Maltese children according to the convention, which is one of the conventions that was received very well on the international platform,” says Mrs Cassar.

When the government draws up the report that it then sends to the Committee of the Red Cross on behalf of the UN, it collects data from various agencies like Sedqa, the Health Department and the Education Department.

Mrs Cassar claims that she was shocked by a fact that was included in the 2000 report that the government sent. “I was shocked by the fact that while the highest number of births were recorded in mothers under 20 years of age, the most men who have children outside wedlock are those in the 30-34 and 35-39 age brackets,” said Mrs Cassar, claiming there is no mention of teenage boys who become fathers.

She explains that this fact is so shocking when one thinks that teenage girls are having affairs with older men, but what she would like to know from the statistics are the ages of the fathers.

It is important for us to know these things, because it is only then that we can put real pressure on the authorities, she tells me, adding that the Children’s Act has been in the pipeline for years.

“Last April, a report by The Malta Independent journalist Juan Ameen, revealed that Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina was quoted as saying that the Children’s Act per se is not a priority for the government. Would you believe that?” was Mrs Cassar’s reaction.

She insists that what she would like to do is put pressure on the government, although she would not like to be labelled politically, because this is not a political, but a national, issue.

The importance for children to be protected comes about when one realises that biological parents have rights, but no duties – “they have no duties whatsoever under Maltese law, and that is a big problem.

Mrs Cassar moves on to another issue that is related and that funnily enough also points to a problem in the legislation. She explains that the law on adoption has not been amended for the past 45 years or so.

The problem underlying this law is that it allows the parents whose name appears on the birth certificate to have every right to custody.

Children who live in homes run by religious institutions are there because of their irresponsible parents, but the law protects these parents. The law is telling these parents to continue living their own lives, because the law will protect their every right to see their child whenever they please to, says Mrs Cassar.

She adds that the Italian Parliament has just approved three laws involving children, one of which states that every children’s home run by a religious institution must be closed down.

“Europe does not want these types of homes any more, because it is not the natural environment in which children are meant to be brought up. Rather, Italy has introduced a system, which they refer to as case famiglie, by means of which a married couple, together with social workers at their assistance, take over a maximum of 10 children.

This allows for a more natural environment and children are not labelled as coming from homes run by nuns or priests, explains Mrs Cassar, adding that many children who live in such homes tend to turn out to be troublemakers.

“Without meaning to generalise, what I mean is that religious institutions are not a natural environment to bring up the future workers of our society.”

She tells me that she believes the Maltese authorities tend to get some priorities wrong at times. Malta participates in two programmes of the EU’s Daphne II that involves women and children. One of the programmes is about gender violence in universities, which Mrs Cassar says is not really needed in Malta since gender violence is not really a problem here.

“Such programmes make no sense; we need to tackle issues involving bullying for example. We need to tackle issues related to the fact that parents are given rights, but hardly any obligations,” she insists.

Mrs Cassar tells me she is informed that some parents whose children live at St Patrick’s home for boys, do not pay a penny for their children’s upbringing, so the children’s allowance is being abused of in such cases.

“There are many problems we don’t want to talk about, but it is essential that we do talk about them. Many are lobbying in favour of divorce, in favour of the rights of adults, but we tend to forget children’s rights, we tend to forget that there are matters that we still need to tackle.

She speaks about the lack of respect between the sexes, the lack of proper sex education, the lack of the better health clinics promoting safer sex, the lack of proper laws and proper funding, just to name a few problems that the country is being faced with and that are affecting Maltese children.

Mrs Cassar takes on the issue of the lack of proper funding and refers to Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri, who has informed the government about her decision not to accept another term in office, but who is still awaiting a replacement.

“Mrs Camilleri has done an excellent job, but she needs fostering and adoption laws to be amended for modern times. She needs to have executive powers, since people go to her, but she can do nothing,” she explains.

Mrs Camilleri had told us the story about two children who were fostered, having lived with a couple for about 10 years, says Mrs Cassar. One fine day the biological father filed an application in court, asking to see the children and the court gave him the right to do so, but the children, aged about 12 and 14, were not even asked whether they wanted to meet him, when Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states children have a “right to express their views” and besides, this man was an outsider, although he was the biological father.

The father fought for his right and the court had no option but to vest him with it and the Commissioner for Children could not do anything about this situation.

“Mrs Camilleri did not express the fact that she cannot put forward her own ideas, but she cannot carry out the job as a result of the shortcomings in the legislation. She has just one person working with her. It is an impossible situation,” says Mrs Cassar.

The Laws of Malta are based on the Canon Roman Law that states that men enjoy rights, but have no obligations, not towards their wives, nor towards their children and this is cruel, she told me.

“We’re living in 2007 and our children are suffering the consequences of the confusion in the Laws of Malta. I believe that putting pressure will get us somewhere. I also believe that many parents want to foster children, but the law as it stands today can only present a great deal of emotional abuse for them and the children; it does in no way protect foster parents” states Mrs Cassar.

As regards the Commissioner for Children, at present the position only calls for a figurehead with no power whatsoever and that is why Mrs Camilleri has had to call it a day.

Malta was obliged to appoint a Commissioner for Children when it joined the EU, but unfortunately, the choice of commissioner rather than ombudsperson did not work, she insists.

“While I believe the argument goes beyond a simple issue of whether we should have an ombudsperson or a commissioner, just think about it, the Office of the Ombudsman does produce results, so I think the issue should be reconsidered by Parliament and the fact that the official person to protect children’s rights must be impartial, calls for his or her office to be separate from the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry.

Miriam Cassar’s

passions: children and the Maltese language

Mrs Cassar is the author of a number of specialised books for slow learners. Her publications also include a Maltese translation of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and her most recent publication is a poster with the Maltese national anthem and an English translation by Alfred Palma.

Her background is in the education sector – with 20 years’ experience as a kindergarten assistant, she came across a number of situations involving children, parents and teachers.

Mrs Cassar obtained a Diploma in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Malta. She focused on international law, with particular attention being given to children and she has been working in favour of children’s rights for the past seven years.

Anyone wishing to contact Mrs Cassar may do so by sending an email to [email protected].