The law courts in Valletta: Children should be informed about the legal proceedings and should participate in them without suffering further trauma. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

When I was a child witness many years ago, I could already tell the court system was flawed in how it dealt with the wellbeing of children. The case took a number of years to be decided due to certain hitches that cropped up. Along the way, what was happening was never explained to me, and I was never offered psychological or any other form of support. I felt that as a witness, I was used and then dumped.

Over the years, several issues have been addressed but other inadequacies are persistent.

A conference held last month by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society – focusing on access to justice for vulnerable children – reminded me of the recommendations I had made in my thesis for the law course in 2016.

When I enrolled in the law course and started to attend court for prattika, I was pleased to see that the situation for child witnesses had improved. Children could now be led through a separate door from the people they were testifying against. Children are also allowed to testify from the magistrate’s chamber through video conference and they are only asked to give evidence once.

Moreover, lawyers are requesting the service of a clinical psychologist more often when children are involved in criminal proceedings.

However, some of these measures are still only resorted to at the discretion of the magistrate. This should not be the case because these are rights outlined in the Lanzarote Convention and in European directive 2011/92/EU.

Legal rights that promote the well-being of the child should not be left to the discretion of magistrates but should be incorporated in national laws and enforced mandatorily.

The deficiencies in Malta’s legal system could easily be remedied if we enforced the European directive in full, especially by  incorporating these rights in the Children’s Act, and specifically by the em­ployment of a child advocate and a clinical psychologist in all court proceedings that involve children as witnesses and, especially, as victims.

Among other things, the directive says that children should be given adequate legal representation during court proceedings, including for the purpose of claiming compensation. They should be informed about the legal proceedings and should participate in them without suffering further trauma.

I recommend that a child advocate and a clinical psychologist should be offered during all court proceedings that involve minors, especially in criminal proceedings.

I recommend that a child advocate and a clinical psychologist should be offered during all court proceedings that involve minors, especially in criminal proceedings

A child advocate is needed in order to explain the proceedings and the legal rights to the child, so that young witnesses are kept ‘in the loop’. This is very important for children because such information prepares them for the eventual court hearing. The child advocate would also act as a support person and is in a position to enforce the rights of the child.

On the other hand, a clinical psychologist should be available to the child before, during and after court proceedings. This service would be beneficial not only for the child but also for the magistrate and the defendant. It is crucial for the holding of a fair and just hearing and for a judgment to be given that is truly beyond reasonable doubt.

More importantly, the service of a clinical psychologist prevents the known ripple effects linked to these cases, especially concerning the mental health of such witnesses.

I also recommend that all the rights that children have in relation to court proceedings, especially the rights emerging from the Lanzarote Convention and European directive 2011/92/EU, should be incorporated in the Children’s Act, possibly having them all gathered under one chapter in the Act.

Perhaps most vital of all, children should be able to learn about their rights, specifically their legal rights.

What is the use of having international, European and local laws incorporating the rights of the child if the child does not know about them?

The legal rights of the child during court proceedings should be handed to him or her in the form of a child-friendly booklet.

Regardless of the expenses that may be involved, each and every child should be afforded adequate legal and psychological support before, during and after court proceedings in order to prevent the consequences that at times are felt following such cases, including mental health problems.

So let’s use today, Universal Children’s Day, to embark on the change we need to see. We were all children once, and most of us will have children of our own at some point in our lives.

Let’s make sure children can trust the judicial system with their wellbeing.

Janilee Agius is a newly graduated lawyer and children’s rights activist