The Minister for Justice Jonathan Attard, together with the Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms and Equality Rebecca Buttiġij, attended a conference of the Council of Europe in Dublin, Ireland, with the theme “No safe haven: Integrated prevention measures to end domestic, sexual and gender-based violence“.
The minister and the parliamentary secretary met with a number of ministers and professionals from several European countries where together they talked and discussed various matters regarding domestic violence and gender-based violence.
Minister Attard stressed how a lot of work has been done in this field in Malta. He mentioned that the first law that he brought to the Maltese Parliament dealt with the introduction of the concept of femicide in the criminal code of Malta. “With these amendments, Malta was among the first countries in Europe to establish that femicide is a factor that should militate against the awarding of a mild punishment in a case of homicide or attempted homicide, with “in such a way that a clear and strong message is sent against these types of crimes against women”, stressed Minister Attard.
He went on to say that “Malta attaches great importance to the fight against violence against women and gender-based violence. Malta is also a signatory to the Istanbul Convention and the provisions of the Convention are enforceable as part of the Laws of Malta.”
Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg, in one of the discussion sessions, she explained the work being done on prevention at a national level. Prevention is a crucial pillar that emerges from the Istanbul Convention, therefore the Commission for Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence organizes a number of training sessions for professionals working in the sector.
“As a government we are committed to building a more effective system to intervene and protect victims from all types of violence. The training that is being done to the frontliners is an essential tool to continue to create a society with stronger structures both to help our families, and to where we can prevent violence from being carried out”, said the parliamentary secretary.
At the end of the conference, which was held at the invitation of the Irish Presidency, Malta signed a declaration to carry out more work in the fight against domestic violence. The declaration commits the countries to implement various measures in this area, including information campaigns and measures to increase awareness on an educational level, among others.
