A man is brutally shot in the head because he is black. A journalist is blown up because she steps on the wrong toes.

Women are killed by their partners when nothing is done after they repeatedly file domestic violence reports with the police. Court cases drag on forever, imposing emotional and financial hardship on victims. Politicians steal from under our noses with impunity. Our air is poisoned, our natural environment is being eaten up by greed, our children breathe dust and toxic gases.

Women wearing burkinis are banned from places such as the Marsa Sports Club. Men are still getting paid more than women. Pole-dancers and strippers are judged and frowned upon while the male users of their services are not. Children are alienated from one of their parents on a daily basis, supported by unethical lawyers and overwhelmed courts who condone the abuse. People are terrified of expressing their opinions about controversial subjects while hatred is broadcast on national television. Housing is unaffordable. Immigrants escaping horrendous home situations are left to die at sea.

These are all breaches of our basic human rights, enshrined in our Constitution and in the European Convention on Human Rights. Most are also punishable through various clauses in our legal statutes, for if there is one positive statement I can make, is that our laws sure look good on paper.

Migrant murder: How politicians, activists and citizens reacted to news of arrests

We have it all covered – Victims of Crime Act; Equality for Men and Women Act; Equal Treatment of Persons Order; Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics Act; Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Act; the Criminal Code; the Constitution; Financing of Political Parties Act; Judicial Review of Administrative Procedures; Constitutional Court; and so on.

Our laws sure look good on paper.

Nobody can say our laws don’t cater for breaches of human rights or redress therefrom. The application of these laws, however, is another matter, and it seems that criminals have more rights and more protection than victims these days.

BLOG: This is what happens when... Herman Grech

The sad thing is that most citizens have their bar set too low, and either are unaware of their rights and when they are being breached, or they are stuck in a Stockholm-syndrome relationship with their politicians so that, when they are bluntly told that the conclusion of the investigation on the brutal murder of Lassane Cisse Souleyman “shows that Malta is a safe place for everyone, and it should remain so” they do not stop to question the weird logic behind such a statement, but accept it blindly, scrolling on the next post about the Eurovision and some irrelevant billboard.

I am now waiting for the posts condoning the actions of this murderer.

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