‘Bill to improve life of persons with disability’

A Bill enabling Malta to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability went beyond the requirements needed to conform to the convention. It had the wider scope of further improving upon the applicable strong legislative framework, enhancing its relevance to the current realities faced by persons with a disability, Family Minister Dolores Cristina said.

Introducing the Various Laws (Disability Matters) (Amendment) Bill, Ms Cristina said it included amendments that would substitute offensive terminology and ensured that carers of persons with disability worked in the best interest of those they looked after. It included the concept of harassment, making it a criminal offence liable to a fine or a prison term. Continued participation in education would be ensured even in a change of circumstances in the life of a person with disability.

The minister spoke at length of the great change in mentality and perception with regard to persons with a disability as people became more aware of their dignity and value. The Bill clearly showed a new commitment to guarantee their rights.

Malta was in the first group of UN member states signing the convention, which came into effect in 2008. Its guiding light was the slogan: “Nothing about us without us”. This guaranteed the protection of rights of these people while removing discrimination. The government had also signed the optional protocol annexed to the convention that gave the right to Maltese persons with disability to investigate if its provisions were not followed.

An inter-ministerial committee had been appointed to recommend the necessary changes to enable Malta to be in conformity with the convention. She paid tribute to the National Commission Persons with Disability representatives Joe Camilleri and Alfred Bezzina who attended the proceedings and worked tirelessly to see that the rights of the persons with disability were enshrined.

The committee’s recommendations helped to draft the Bill. The Federation of Organisation Persons with Disabilities (MFOPD) also played an important role in these consultations and had passed on proposals made by individuals and organisations to the committee. The Minister said she would be open to suggestions to improve the Bill until this passed through committee stage.

The UN convention tackled a number of issues related to disability, amongst which accessibility and mobility, education, employment, rehabilitation and political participation. The significance of the convention was that it went beyond social issues regarding persons with a disability but viewed these persons in a holistic manner and encouraged other countries to consider their active participation within society. The convention did not in itself create new rights but it eliminated discrimination.

When Malta signed the convention in 2007, it made an interpretive statement with regard to gender sensitive issues dealing with reproductive health, making it clear that Malta did not consent to abortion.