Battle of words by lobbyists over divorce billboards

The battle of words between the anti- and pro-divorce movements intensified yesterday, as the Iva għad-Divorzju, Iva għaż-Żwieġ movement started putting up its billboards.

This had been delayed because the pro-divorce movement had limited resources and depended on the help of volunteers, former Nationalist Party minister Michael Falzon said.

Its billboards depict three main messages. Two were criticised by the Moviment Żwieġ Bla Divorzju.

These focus on children, where a young girl and a toddler, both looking sorrowfully into the camera, are accompanied by the slogan: “Forced to cohabit and our children are illegitimate – is that right?”

In a statement yesterday, the anti-divorce movement said the pro-divorce group was slandering children by using the word “bgħula” (illegitimate) insensitively.

Deborah Schembri, head of the pro-divorce movement, said the strong message portrayed in the billboards reflected the feelings instilled in children when they were discriminated against. She added that it was just using photos of children and not pushing them to participate in the referendum campaign.

The movement, she said, promoted several child measures, including shifting the maintenance age of children of divorced or separated couples from 18 to 23.

The anti-divorce lobby questioned how the pro-divorce movement was defending children and domestic violence victims, while using these same people to impose “unreasonable divorce” on the Maltese.

It also stated that the “movement in favour of unreasonable divorce” was trying to give the impression that the law differentiated between legitimate and illegitimate children, when this was not the case.

Dr Schembri said although the law did not make such a distinction, this same distinction was made in particular cases such as inheritance.

The other two billboards refer to domestic violence and the luxury of affording a divorce.