Lately, there have been talks by the Social Affairs Committee to adjust the family court’s system and make it more “child friendly and child orientated”.

Although that needs seeing to, The Law Students’ Society (Gh.S.L.) believes that the first step should be the incorporation of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law.

The Convention goes further than mere protection rights to also include, provision, prevention and participatory rights. Malta signed and ratified the document nearly 10 years ago, but has fallen short of incorporating the document into local legislation; this means that although our government is bound by its sections, it cannot be enforced in the Courts of Malta.

Article 37(c) of the CRC says: “State parties shall ensure that… Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so…”

Locally, we do not have the facilities to totally adhere to the said section, because although there is YOURS, it caters exclusively for males and no similar facilities exist for girls, who end up either with adult females or in isolated cells.

Recalling that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations proclaims that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance, The Law Students’ Society feels it is high time that we take the next step vis-à-vis the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and render enforceable in a law court the document which acknowledges children as being independent holders of rights.

The Law Students’ Society (Gh.S.L.)