'Full access to justice should not depend on income'

Policymakers should ensure that poor people have full access to justice as this right should not depend on a person's income, Maltese representatives told a Brussels conference on poverty yesterday.

"It is not acceptable that those who can pay more have better access to justice," said Holger Saliba, the head the Maltese delegation attending a two-day poverty conference in Brussels.

He said that some legal aid lawyers who represented the poor did not always take cases seriously, though he stressed this did not apply to all legal aid lawyers.

The ninth People Experiencing Poverty (PEP) conference, held at the European Parliament, brought together some 150 poor people from the EU member states and Norway.

The aim of the conference, organised by the EU Spanish Presidency in collaboration with the European Commission and the European Anti-Poverty Network, is to give the poor a voice and engage them in the policymaking process. In fact, today, the conference ends with the drawing up of priorities for the next 10 years which will be listed in the final declaration of the Spanish presidency.

The priorities will emerge from workshops carried out yesterday when each participating country identified their own priorities.

Mr Saliba, from the Anti-Poverty Forum that incorporates Maltese NGOs, said two main issues had been identified by a Maltese group that included Ernest Cherrett and Angela Coppini from Caritas Malta, Shirley Muscat from the Richmond Foundation and Marie Grace Vella from the Ministry of Education, Employment and Family.

The first was access to basic services that included access to justice; the right to correct information; and education for both children and adults that may include how to manage finances.

Elaborating on this point, Mr Cherrett stressed on the need for "moral education" that helped people remember how to care about one another.

The second priority identified was financial inclusion that included reviewing the minimum wage in a balanced manner that took into account the economic, social and political impacts.

Other countries listed various other priorities including better and affordable housing, job-creation, fair payment and the introduction of a minimum income.

They also spoke about the importance of teaching children about the value of money; educating the public about the realities behind poverty, and understanding the vulnerabilities that may cause poverty including mental illness and disabilities.

The workshops followed a discussion between policymakers, NGO representatives and those experiencing poverty.

A recent EU poverty-perception survey found that 61 per cent of Maltese struggled to make ends meet, especially when it came to paying the utility bills.

A high 64.8 per cent felt that poverty had increased during the preceding year, with 28 per cent admitting it had increased "strongly".

Only 11.4 per cent felt poverty had declined.

On Thursday Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the government was doing its utmost to change the perception of poverty among the Maltese, which could have been exacerbated by the new water and electricity rates.