Arts council calls for protection of creative freedom

Classification of artistic works should reflect the public's maturity and 21st century realities, according to the Malta Council for Culture and Arts.

The MCCA said it was in favour of changes to the law to reflect current realities and cited a UN convention on the protection and promotion of diversity of cultural expressions, which states that "cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression, information and communication, as well as the ability of individuals to choose cultural expressions, are guaranteed".

This comes in the wake of controversy stirred by the student publication Ir-Realtà that was banned from being distributed on the University campus after it published a story detailing a man's sexual exploits in explicit terms.

The publication's editor, Mark Camilleri, risks facing charges of public obscenity and could be imprisoned if found guilty.

The council said art and culture needed to develop in the freest way possible. "The principles of excellence require that creative freedom is duly safeguarded," the MCCA said, adding that there needed to be "a revision of the relevant legal framework so that the rights and fundamental liberties of artists in all genres are safeguarded".