The Opposition has submitted a draft bill aimed to enact a non-discrimination protocol that forms part of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Addressing the media, PN justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina said that the party is presenting the bill to eliminate an anomaly whereby the protocol was ratified by Malta in 2015, but never actually enacted.

The protocol, known as Protocol No. 12, removed the limitation in the application of Article 14 on non-discrimination of the Convention to the rights enshrined in the treaty. Instead, it guarantees that no one shall be discriminated against on any ground by any public authority.

Malta ratified the protocol in December 2015, and it entered into force in April 2016. However, it never formed part of the Laws of Malta.

The protocol protects all those who are, discriminated against by a public authority, or in the enjoyment of a right granted to a person by any national law or public authority. This does not exclude the possibility of different treatment due to a reasonable justification, but it binds public authorities to act in a fair and equal manner with all persons.

Claudette Buttigieg, PN spokesperson for civil liberties, said that laws and rights are two distinguishable concepts. “Passing a law and ignoring the right would be as if the right doesn’t exist.”

Paula Mifsud Bonnici, the party’s assistant whip, added that the PN had sent a letter to the deputy prime minister in July 2022, with a list of proposals on how the Parliament can function better.

“So far, the government gave no answer to this letter, and nothing has changed. The government did not lend an ear to the concrete proposals presented by the Nationalist Party,” she said.