The arguments for and against divorce were discussed at a poorly-attended AZAD debate this morning, with the arguments focusing on if and how society could benefit.

Austin Bencini, who opposes divorce, underlined the need for the people to be properly informed of the issue before the referendum takes place on May 28.

He argued that the focus of society and the state should be on strengthening the family, as the pillar of society. No one was denying that some families were going through problems, but how would divorce solve them? If social problems were causing families to break up, what the country needed was solutions for those problems.

Clearly, he said, more support was needed for families in order to help the marriage bond.

He criticised the Divorce Bill currently before parliament, particularly the concept of 'no fault divorce' where any of the spouses could seek and be granted divorce, despite what the other spouse felt. The law, as proposed, would make it easy for spouses who broke up a marriage to walk out without consequence to them.

It still had to be shown, Dr Bencini said, how divorce helped society.

Martin Scicluna, who backs divorce, said everyone was in favour of strong families, but what happened when marriages broke down? The state currently did not allow divorce, but allowed legal separation, where all the heartache that came before divorce took place. Divorce would allow people whose marriage broke down to be able to start again.

Society, he said, paid a price when couples broke up and ended up cohabiting because they could not remarry.

Joyce Cassar, who also opposes divorce, insisted that problems needed to be tackled before they led to a marriage breaking down. Cohabitation too was not healthy for society. She said she would also oppose legislation which would serve to promote cohabitation and not marriage, but she agreed that the vulnerable need to be protected and a framework to protect human dignity is necessary.

Deborah Schembri, who heads the divorce movement, said no one ever said that divorce was a solution to broken marriages, but it was a way how people could start anew. In the ideal world, marriages would not break down, she said, but breakdowns would continue to happen and people should be able to form new families.

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