Shock at lack of police action over violence on women

The head of European Women’s Lobby expressed surprised yesterday that Maltese police were unhelpful with some victims of domestic violence when they called for help.

Brigitte Triems, president of the largest umbrella group of European women’s associations, told The Sunday Times: “I have never heard of cases where police officers didn’t want to help – I just haven’t encountered it before”.

During a half-day seminar on domestic violence on Friday, two victims recounted how police officers were unhelpful when they were in need of support. Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar, who also took part, urged victims to report these officers.

“I appreciated that Mr Cassar – such a high-ranking official – was at the conference because I saw a commitment from the police force that recognises the problem and is trying to tackle it,” she said.

Organised by the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations in collaboration with the European Parliament, Ms Triems said the conference was an eye-opener because she thought the situation was “a bit better”.

She said Malta’s economic and unemployment situation was better than those of other EU countries.

“But it just shows that domestic violence is the same in all countries – women don’t have the money to leave and need to turn to voluntary organisations for help,” she said.

Ms Triems said she appreciated the courage of the two women who spoke out during the conference – something which was “very moving”.

There is need for a legal framework at EU level to fight domestic violence.

She expressed regret that Malta did not sign the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

The convention has not yet come in force because not enough member states signed and ratified it.