Opposition calls for more comprehensive legislation

The House of Representatives yesterday started debating a bill for the appointment of a Commissioner for Children with powers to investigate any breaches or infringements of the rights of children.

The bill was moved by Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Opposition MP Marie-Louise Coleiro said the Opposition had expected a tougher and more embracing bill also taking in areas such as fostering and adoption.

She suggested that once the bill was given a second reading, public consultation should be held through the House Social Affairs Committee before consideration in the committee stage.

In his introduction, Dr Gonzi said that the fact that this was the first bill of the new legislature brought home the family's importance for the nation. The most important reason for the bill was the nationwide agreement on the importance of the family as the nucleus of society.

It was important to grasp concrete facts in the search for solutions, so that children could really develop to their full potential. In so doing it was also important to keep in mind that nothing the state could do could ever take the place of parents' influence on their families.

The bill had to be seen in the context of family-friendly measures introduced over the past three years, including the new Employment Act which helped families to adapt to the working environment; the strengthening of the Apoogg agency in offering support to families in difficulty; and adherence to the Convention on the abduction of children. In 2001 the National Commission for the Family was formed and legislative steps were taken to encourage fostering so that children could be brought up in homes rather than institutions. There had also been significant increases in financial benefits to homes harbouring children of families that were broken or in difficulty.

Tax rebates had been introduced for families sending their children to private or church schools, and assistance to organisations such as Caritas had been increased. The Family Court would also soon be set up.

All the country's investment in information technology for schools was also in aid of children's development.

Even with the institution of the Commissioner for Children, a lot would still remain to be done towards modernising the country in areas such as the laws on adoption, licensing of children's daycare centres, the administration of assets of disabled children and ministerial powers in the case of abused children.

The Commissioner for Children would follow all these initiatives and coordinate efforts for their implementation for the benefit of children.

The 1989 UN Convention on the rights of children was signed by Malta in 1990, and more recently the Council of Europe had adopted another convention, signed by Malta in 1993.

The UN convention imposed on all signatory countries the setting up of a national structure to monitor the development of legislation and services in matters affecting children, as well as their putting into effect.

Albeit rather late, Malta was now taking steps to set up this office according to the 1989 convention.

Dr Gonzi said the Commissioner for Children would be appointed by the prime minister following consultations with the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee. The government wanted the commissioner to have a good working relationship with the committee. In fact, the president of the committee would be an ex-officio member of the Council for Children. The council, whose role would be to assist the commissioner, would have six members representing various government departments and would have the right to co-opt up to seven other persons to represent children and the rights of children.

Dr Gonzi said the bill included guiding, but not legally enforceable, principles providing that the best interests of children and the family were paramount; that all children were to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness; that disabled children and children in disadvantaged families or social circumstances should enjoy the same quality of life as all other children; that children and their families were to be provided with opportunities to participate in decisions that affected them and in defining, planning and evaluating services to children; and that government, families and communities shared the responsibility for the promotion of the development and well-being of children.

On the role of the commissioner, the minister said the commissioner was not being given executive powers because executive responsibility was always the government's. It was the government's responsibility to ensure that the obligations laid down in the international conventions were implemented.

The commissioner, however, could make recommendations for action to be taken. He would have the power to hold investigations and could, for this purpose, summon witnesses.

Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro said that while the bill was an important step to bring Malta into line with several other countries, there were still several children's rights that had not yet been approached.

The several initiatives mentioned by Dr Gonzi regarded the family as a whole, of which children were an important part. But children's interests needed to be brought well into the forefront. This could only be done through extensive research into the various problems children and their families were facing.

The latest statistics from the NSO only went as far as 2000 or 2001.

Other countries had set up their specialised offices for children almost immediately after signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Malta had taken all of 13 years and was too far behind.

Indeed, the opposition had been expecting a stronger bill, not only to reflect more closely the convention's aspirations but also to better tackle developments in Malta and overseas, even in view of Malta's accession to the EU. The opposition was proposing that once the bill was given a second reading, there would be public consultation about it through the House Social Affairs Committee so that amendments could then be debated in the committee stage.

In order to have a comprehensive policy it was also important to visualise the future for children, rather than react to what had already happened.

Malta's representatives in the Convention on the Future of Europe would do well to study a European Children's Network report on why it was important to have a legal base for children's needs. Animals had been given rights before children.

Ms Coleiro said legislation with regard to children born outside marriage needed to be updated, especially as many children were ending up not knowing who their fathers were.

She said that in view of the growing number of marriages involving spouses from countries which were not signatories of the convention on the rights of the child, the government should hold bilateral talks with those countries to ensure there were safeguards to protect the rights of those children.

Ms Coleiro insisted that the Family Court should be set up as soon as possible, especially as it was promised a long time ago.

Action was also needed to protect children from unsuitable Internet access.

The country was still waiting for regulations on child minding and child care centres, as well as other measures such as the setting up of child minding centres in industrial estates.

Although positive developments were taking place regarding fostering, the legal structure was still lacking.

The government also needed to ease inter-country adoption procedures. Couples had been, for a time, adopting children from Albania, Romania and Pakistan. Why had these adoptions stopped?

Ms Coleiro spoke about children at risk and abused children. Statistics by Appogg showed that the number of reported cases kept constantly increasing, up to 462 in 2000. This could be the result of a greater awareness, but there was no doubt that problems did exist.

Among the most widespread abuses were neglect and physical abuse of children. Reports of sexual abuse had exploded between 1993 and 2000, with most cases involving girls. Statistics on substance abuse between 1996 and 2000 showed greater numbers attending the Detox Centre, which was positive in a way.

The problem of absenteeism from schools was also increasing and in 2001 stood at 8.9 per cent, with boys in primary schools missing 11.4 days and girls 10.4 days on average. Absenteeism in secondary schools showed an increase of 18 per cent over 2000.

The UN convention saddled governments with responsibility for tackling illiteracy. Even in this regard statistics showed that something was going seriously wrong in Malta.

NSO statistics on persons aged 15 and over showed 32 per cent only had primary level education, with 45 per cent having secondary and 18 per cent post-secondary level.

The entrance examinations to the Junior Lyceum showed a success rate of 52 per cent from state schools in 2001, as against 47 per cent from non-state schools. The government was certainly investing heavily in education, so why were these efforts not getting better results?

Only 20 per cent of students sitting for Secondary Education Certification achieved grades from 1 to 4, with 42 per cent getting from 5 to 7 and 18 per cent remaining unclassified.

Only 16 per cent of children with disabilities in state kindergarten and primary classes passed on to secondary education, as against 77 per cent from private schools. A serious investigation was needed into what was really happening.

Ms Coleiro said that in 2001 there had been 264 children in institutions, not counting those in daycare centres. The government needed to engage in serious talks with various organisations and church institutions because several children housed there had no real need to be there. This problem could be alleviated through fostering and adoption.

It was a fact that certain parents were abusing their children by putting them into institutions, but these children should not be punished because of their parents. The situation needed to be reviewed as soon as possible.

The fact that only 38 per cent of children had access to desktop computers, while 69 percent had no access at all to Internet, showed that there was still a lot to do in this regard.

Ms Coleiro said the bill was confusing in some parts. The commissioner had an executive role in certain cases and a regulatory role in others.

Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child would all rest on the commissioner. This would turn him into a rapporteur and this was a job any public official could do.

Ms Coleiro said that while the purpose of the law was good, this bill was half-baked. Malta needed a comprehensive Children's Act to include all the other areas involving children.

Where did the National Commission for the Family fit in under the proposed bill? How was the commission to work with the commissioner's office and the council?

Civil society had also been left out completely. How were children's organisations to be represented? At what stage were children to be consulted?

Ms Coleiro said that both sides should work together on the bill to improve it before finalising it.