National commissions should be empowered to not only recommend, but also enforce, the President is urging the government.

Addressing a conference on human rights advocacy, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca insisted that now was the right time for a review of the legislation that regulated the function of the various national commissions.

“I believe they must be further empowered to be more effective, and ensure the safeguarding of human rights.

“Our national commissioners cannot rely on individual advocacy efforts alone – they need to be more independent of the executive authorities. They must have the power to not only recommend, but also enforce,” she said, calling for more scope for watchdogs within institutional structures so that nobody remained voiceless.

READ: Putting human rights on a page

“I call upon our government to turn the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into an opportunity to empower the national commissioners. This would be the most appropriate way to celebrate this milestone.”

President Coleiro Preca was speaking at a conference organised by the Human Rights Programme of the University of Malta, and the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society.

For the President, the topic of the conference was timely considering the national discussion about the rule of law, freedom of expression and the need for constitutional reform. 

In her address, she noted that human rights advocacy was not limited to lawyers and professionals, but should also be embraced by all citizens.

She urged civil society to continue calling for the necessary political will and understanding that human rights were nobody’s monopoly, but should be owned by all of humanity.

Children's policy a good first step

The President meanwhile noted that despite great strides to allow access to justice in a number of areas, Malta still lacked full accessibility to justice and the enforcement of human rights in a number of contexts.

One such sector, which worried her, was that of children’s rights.

“I believe that the recently announced children’s policy is a good step in the right direction, however, our legislators need to take up the commitment to legislate a comprehensive children’s act, so as to ensure that our children have access to justice.

“It is only when the full weight of the law comes into conformity with the convention of the rights of the child, that we can feel secure about the full protection and environment of our children and young people.”

Dutch Ambassador appalled at migration crisis

Addressing the same conference, Ambassador of the Netherlands Joop Nijssen meanwhile noted that when convening to talk about human rights, it was important to stress that the biggest breach of human rights in this part of the world was formed by the appalling circumstances in which migrants were being forced to stay on the northern shore of the African continent.

The number of people drowning in the Central Mediterranean was going down, while the number of people who voluntarily return to their country of origin is increasing, however the problem has not been resolved. Thousands of people were living in circumstances which 69 years ago we would have hoped would never occur again, he said.

The ambassador also paid tribute to President Coleiro Preca for her unifying role in the current debate that followed the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In his keynote speech, former Dutch parliamentarian and current head of Human Rights Watch's advocacy efforts on LGBT rights, Boris Dittrich meanwhile noted that international eyes were on Malta’s investigation of the journalist’s tragic murder.

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