The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a set of amendments to the Criminal Code which have the aim of introducing for the first time in our legal history the concept of femicide, or better the gender-motivated killing of a women or girl.
By means of these amendments, which were presented by the Minister for Equality, Research and Innovation Owen Bonnici and the Minister for Justice and Governance Edward Zammit Lewis, three main changes will occur: the law will now be providing a list of femicidal circumstances that will guide the Court for a harsher penalty when a person is found guilty of homicide; the law will also be providing that homicides with femicidal circumstances would be excluded from qualifying as being an excusable homicide on the basis of the so-called defence of sudden passion; and the law will also similarly regulate the offence of attempted homicide undertaken in femicidal circumstances.
During a press conference, Minister Owen Bonnici explained that this important set of amendments is being published a month to the day after the horrendous rape and murder of Paulina Dembska and two years after the killing of Chantelle Chetcuti. He said that while the Government pushed forward a number of monumental reforms in the last years, certain patriarchal and misogynous attitudes are still present in our communities.
“If we truly want a country which can call itself a land of equality, where women and men are truly equal, we have to make important changes in our laws, including those of a criminal nature,” Minister Bonnici said. He emphasised that through the amendments which are being proposed, Malta will be one of the first countries in Europe which will introduce the concept of femicide in its Criminal Code. He said that when faced with the ugly reality of gender-based violence, the whole country must unite and come together in order to win over more hearts and minds in favour of real gender equality.
Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, explained that this Administration is ready to listen, decide and act and does not want a society based on gender stereotypes”. He continued by stating that “femicide” is not generally recognized as a separate crime from voluntary homicide because in the Maltese legal system homicide carries the highest possible punishment; life imprisonment. Government is humble and listened to the calls from society and presented this Bill in Parliament.
The Minister concluded, Government has done a lot to protect women, primarily by implementing the Istanbul Convention recommendations. This Government still believes that more work needs to be done to ensure a “mind shift” in our society to break free from the chains of discrimination against women and gender-based stereotypes.
Dr Lara Dimitrijevic, who heads the Women’s Rights Foundation said, “I believe that today, we are taking a historic step where we are seeing a political commitment with the launch of the bill that is making the reality of femicide visible and conveying a strong message that violence against women is not acceptable in our society.”
The legislative process of this bill will commence in the House of Representative with immediate effect.
