A woman with a black eye looking into the distance, a sad young girl and a grumpy toddler feature in the pro-divorce movement’s billboard campaign launched a month before the referendum.
The images, accompanied by questions like “If this is your daughter, would you give her another chance?” make reference to the movement’s argument that divorce would give domestic violence victims a second chance.
Both the pro and anti-divorce movements unveiled their billboards as the May 28 referendum draws closer.
Two of the pro-divorce movement’s billboards focus specifically on children – one with a young girl and another with a toddler, both looking sorrowfully into the camera lens – and the slogan: “Forced to cohabit and our children are illegitimate – is that right?” (Poġġuti bil-fors u wliedna bgħula... hekk sew?).
The third depicts a couple – a blonde Eastern-European woman sitting on a man’s lap – holding wads of euro notes, which are also stuffed into her shirt, both laughing. The text points out that divorce is a right only for those who can afford to obtain it abroad.
The Moviment Żwieġ Bla Divorzju noted that the Iva movement’s campaign was now acknowledging the fact that children should be at the centre of the debate on no-fault divorce.
However, the movement stron-gly condemned the “insensitivity” shown by the Iva movement by referring to children as “bgħula”.
“The Yes movement is also showing great dishonesty when trying to give the impression that the laws of our country refer to illegitimate and legitimate children when it knows this is not the case,” a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the anti-divorce movement has launched two billboards so far – one depicting a child embracing his pa-rents with the slogan “Together for our children” (Flimkien għal uliedna).
The second shows an alarm clock, only with the numbers one to four on the dial, and a question in large white block letters on a pink background saying: “A marriage with an expiry date? No thanks.”
The four numbers on the clock face refer to a clause in the proposed legislation that only allows a couple to file for divorce after being separated for four years.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio said the billboards by the anti-divorce movement were “simplistic” and “did not reflect reality.
“These billboards are deceitful – isn’t the marriage of a couple who separate or get an annulment expired? We appeal to the anti-divorce movement to be more sensitive to people who are in broken marriages and to their children,” he said.