Commissioner for Children to be appointed

The cabinet has accepted the Social Policy Ministry`s proposal to have a Commissioner for Children, Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday. The Attorney General was drafting the bill on the appointment of a commissioner and Dr Gonzi augured that the law would soon be passed in parliament.

The minister was speaking at the launch of the National Statistics Office publication, Children, a thematic collection of statistical data.

The information in the publication showed that legal abortions carried out between 1990 and 2000 in the UK on persons residing in Malta amounted to 570, 15 per cent of whom were 19 years old or less, while 28 per cent were aged between 20 and 24.

In child abuse, the figures of cases reported to the Agenzija Appogg rose dramatically between 1993 (14) and 2000 (462), with 32 per cent and 31 per cent occurring in the Southern and Northern Harbour districts respectively.

The statistics show that the victims of the majority of cases of abuse (32 per cent) were between five and nine years old and 31 per cent were between 10 and 14.

Child abusers reported to the agency between 1993 and 2000 were mainly parents.

The number of cases of sexual offences on minors reported to the police between 1997 and 2000 amounted to 106, those of prostitution in the same period amounted to three, and those of physical abuse to 63.

As many as 87 per cent of teenage mothers were single in 2001 and the figure was practically constant in the previous two years.

In October 2000, 83 per cent of children in residential homes were aged between one and 15, with one care worker for every three children. The primary reasons for their requiring residential care were mental and physical health problems of their parents (61 children), followed closely by neglect (59). In both cases, the majority of admissions were voluntary.

Last year, the number of children in residential homes was 264, the statistics show.

As regards adoptions, between 1988 and 2001, 54 per cent were from Romania, followed by 25 per cent from Malta.

In 2001, 19 per cent of refugees were children.

The data in Children also shows that 21 per cent of juvenile offences between 1995 and 2001 were theft-related and another 21 per cent involved violence. Between 1996 and 2001, the offences of almost half of the probationers were related to theft, while 26 per cent were drug offences.

Post-secondary education levels have increased since the 1980s, particularly for girls, with 144 attending in 1970 and 3,341 in 2000. Success rates at Junior Lyceum levels have increased from 22 per cent in 1983 to 55 per cent in 2001.

The number of children receiving special education in 2000 was 291, while 825 children with disability were enrolled in mainstream education in 2000.

Regarding school absenteeism, absences in state primary schools in 1999/2000 amounted to 186,561, while in private primary schools they amounted to 68,691. Absences from state and private secondary schools amounted to 283,003 and 46,931 respectively.

The highest rates of absences in government primary schools were in the Southern and Northern Harbours, with an average of 10 days of absence.

As regards demography, the population increase was not due to an increase of children. The child ratio to adults has declined to 38 for every 100 adults in 2000 from 65 in 1931.

A drop of 63 per cent in live births has been marked between 1947 (11,612) and 2000 (4,255). In 2000, there was one child death out of every 100 deaths, while in 1948, there were 41.

Dr Gonzi described the statistics - gathered together for the first time ever - as a "fantastic tool for politicians" that also lent a voice to children. They showed how the composition of the Maltese family had changed, as well as its needs and priorities.

The Labour Party`s spokesman for social affairs, Marie Louise Coleiro, highlighted the less positive picture that emerged from the data, such as problems of absenteeism and the difference between the success rates of students at private and government schools, questioning whether these issues were being tackled.

The number of children in residential homes had decreased, but not enough, in her opinion.

Ms Coleiro spoke about the need for legislation on fostering, so that families would feel more comfortable, and the upgrading of adoption laws.

She pointed to the number of children without access to computers and the Internet in their homes, saying the statistics in Children showed that much needed to be done.

NSO director general Alfred Camilleri said the publication served to stimulate discussion on children, placing them at the forefront. In the foreword to the book, he said that hardly any data on children`s life conditions in modern society, such as the amount of time spent on study and play, was available.

The 145-page publication is composed of eight main sections: Demographics; Children in Education; Children in Society; Children and Health; Children in Households; Children as Parents; Children at Risk; and Children and Crime.

The rationale for the statistical collection revolves around three aspects: to make children visible in statistics; to illustrate how focusing on children provides an entirely different perspective; to give ideas of the kind of information that throws light on the state of children in developing societies.

Each topic is presented in such a way as to focus attention on the related childhood concern.

The book concludes with an interesting flashback to the years when Maltese emigration was at its most intense, with entire families seeking new beginnings in foreign countries.

The term of `children` in the publication refers to those below the age of 18, in line with the definition contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

The publication is a further step in the widening of the scope of the NSO`s social statistics programme.

The book is available for sale from the Department of Information and the NSO.