Every law that affects children needs to take into account the interest of minors, Minister for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children's Rights Michael Falzon told Parliament on Monday.

Parliament is discussing a Bill to amend the Minor Protection (Alternative Care) Act in order to provide for the better working of the court procedures in the issuing of protection orders and to provide for better safeguards for the rights of all parties involved in the same court procedures.

Falzon said that they also took note of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This is a legally binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.

“This was a process of rigorous public consultation, where we saw what we can improve in terms of local adoption which unfortunately the number is relatively low,” Falzon said. “We want to look after the rights of the children as much as possible. The social realities are changing and will continue to change,” he remarked.

Falzon noted that there are a number of things which have improved amongst children and youth, where tobacco, alcohol, and hard drugs use has reduced and that, “although Malta is not a utopia, the number of children which live in severe material deprivation is half of what it was 7 to 8 years ago.”

Labour MP Oliver Scicluna said that children need to be spoken to with their own language and to be understood by the adults in the country, so it is good that their view is being taken into account.

Scicluna also took note of the decreasing amount of space for children to play in. “I am not going to hesitate to say: Open environment for children to play and roam has been pecked, and by a lot,” he said.

“We have to look at this situation,” Scicluna remarked.

Both sides of Parliament were in agreement about the importance of such a discussion. PN MP Claudette Buttigieg said that this is a rather difficult bill as it has to take into consideration a number of factors regarding children.

“Minister Michael Falzon has respect from both sides of the room, this is a difficult sector,” Buttigieg said.

“This law has long been in the pipelines, and it is a very sensitive law. As when we say the human being is at the centre, this time it is children, and that is the difficulty,” she said.

Buttigieg remarked that although the adult has to take responsibility, the children were given an opportunity to take part in this legal bill.