Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli yesterday said the Criminal Code would be amended to reclassify rape as an offence against the person, and not one against the peace, honour of families and morals.

She was speaking during the debate in second reading of the Bill satisfying the Council of Europe Convention on Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

Dr Dalli said this was a very important convention covering psychological and sexual violence, forced abortion and female genital mutilation.

Women were the majority of victims as some men felt entitled to have power over women on the basis of their sexuality and relative physical fragility.

This made violence against women structural, adopted so that men did not lose their dominant position over women in society.

The convention was based on this point, Dr Dalli said.

It proposed mandatory treatment of aggressors and especially men who have an anger management problem. It was the government’s duty to ensure that treatment was provided.

The Istanbul Convention was based on prevention as the vital element to be employed in setting out policies and legal frameworks in the fight against violence.

Through the ratification of this convention the State was binding itself to promote education in order to curb stereotypical views about men and women.

Such education should start as early as kindergarten.

It was very important that children realised the need to use reasoning in arguments and not violence.

The government would also take steps to create programmes for relationship conflict resolution and anger management. It would also ensure there were specialised telephone hotlines to give victims the essential information and professional advice they request.

It was very important that children realised the need to use reasoning in arguments and not violence

Dr Dalli also said she wanted to increase the support and intervention of the police because this would definitely aid in the protection of victims and prevention of violence. But other support such as adequate shelters should also be given.

Labour MP Deborah Schembri (PL) said that Convention had been signed by 23 countries and ratified by 11 of them, meaning it would come into force next summer.

She said that economic violence against women was rife in Malta but was still not officially recognised. In some cases the victims dropped court cases because they were economically dependent on the perpetrator.

Other cases included house surveillance and telephone tapping by the perpetrator not to let the victim contact the family and to monitor their every situation.

Dr Schembri said the House Social Affairs Committee, which she chaired, was preparing a report in line with the convention and would recommend a telephone helpline service operational 24/7, night shelters to give temporary protection to victims who had to leave home hastily during the night and decent areas in police stations where victims could relate their experience in confidence.

The report would also include training of police, increase in court penalties, and a one-stop-shop where relevant services could be given to victims so that they would not have to recount their traumatic experience on different occasions.

Victims’ lawyers should have access to the list of accusations to which defence lawyers had access.

She said that the introduction of co-education would help students not feel different from each other. They should learn that family burdens had to be shared.

Dr Schembri also called on the judiciary not to discontinue hearing domestic violence cases because the victim – who were vulnerable – dropped the charges.

She said there were cases where the victims of domestic violence had died violently because their pleas had either not been heard or they had renounced to further court proceedings.

Opposition spokesman on the family Clyde Puli called for more resources and training to be dedicated to the fight against domestic violence.

He noted that the number of reported cases of domestic violence in Malta had increased to 1,000 in 2012 – double the figure registered in 2009.

A recent EU survey showed that eight per cent of women had experienced sexual or physical violence in the last 12 months while one in every three had experienced violence since the age of 16.

It was positive to note that Malta would be among the first EU member states to ratify the convention, he said.

Even if the Opposition would be voting in favour, Mr Puli said it was recommending a number of proposals, namely that the national action plan against domestic violence be updated to cover all measures listed in the convention.

Adequate training should be provided to professionals and members of the police force and a specialised unit should be set up to handle cases of domestic violence.

Harsher penalties should be considered for repeat offenders.

Mr Puli said more resources and training also needed to be allocated to the sexual assault response team, the helpline, victim shelters and services provided by Appoġġ. A culture of continuous evaluation had to be encouraged for both the State and NGOs.

Research should be commissioned to analyse the real situation and take the necessary measures in evidence-based policy.

He also recommended the creation of post-graduate courses specialising in this area and the reactivation of the Appoġġ programme on anger management.

Mr Puli suggested the strengthening of the Commission on Domestic Violence to be the coordinating body in charge of implementing and monitoring allmeasures in the field.

The debate continues.