Senior government officials and judges from 35 countries are convening in Valletta this week to discuss how to best protect children in countries influenced by Shari'a law.
The Fourth Malta Conference is part of the so-called "Malta Process" that seeks to find solutions to difficult and sometimes tragic cross-border situations affecting children and families through international legal and administrative co-operation.
It promotes co-operation with countries with legal systems based upon or influenced by Islamic law, for the resolution of complex trans-frontier family conflicts, notably issues of protection of contact rights between parents and children, the collection of child support, and issues of parental child abduction.
This conference will continue build on the dialogue process established at the first (2004), second (2006) and third (2009) Malta conferences within the Malta Process. Those meetings had resulted in the Malta Declarations.
Delegates at the Fourth Malta Conference will discuss the implementation of three Hague Children's Conventions - the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, the 1996 Child Protection Convention and the 2007 Child Support Convention.
These are binding international treaties that protect children's human rights in cross-border circumstances. They establish international co-operation mechanisms among judges and other officials, provide legal rules to ensure that children will be protected when crossing borders unaccompanied and from parental child abduction, that they will receive child support, and will maintain contact with parents and guardians in cross-border circumstances.
Apart from representatives of the 35 countries, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO), United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and European Council, Commission and Parliament will also participate. Several NGOs, among them Missing Children Europe and Reunite are also expected to attend.
Family Minister Michael Farrugia, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, Mr Justice Robert Mangion and Hague Conference on Private International Law secretary-general Christophe Bernasconi will open the conference.