Why you should vote no

On Saturday, Malta’s voters will be consulted on whether marriage should remain for life or, as in all other European states, a soluble union. Most of us are familiar with the hurried sequence of events leading to this point:

• The disloyalty of an MP presenting the first Private Member’s Bill in July 2010 without informing his party leader and colleagues and regardless of the fact that no party had a mandate;

• the teaming up of two MPs, one with evident personal interest and the other with equally evident anti-clerical zeal, in presenting a second Bill in December and the third in January of this year; and

• the infamous motion on the referendum question approved by the House on March 16.

This motion is insulting to the voter’s intelligence on various counts.

It refers to “guaranteed” maintenance, when every thinking being can conclude that no Parliament or law can guarantee maintenance to an abandoned spouse or child. The 80 prison terms served during 2010 due to unfulfilled maintenance obligations arising from separation are proof enough of how such obligations rely entirely on the willingness of the spouse to comply and, more importantly, on the availability of funds.

Even less certain is the care and well-being of children following an irresponsible type of divorce as proposed in the Bill before Parliament.

Possibly, the most irresponsible resolution in the motion of the House is that prior to and during the referendum campaign, no public funds shall be used in favour or against any particular opinion.

In essence, our representatives in Parliament have approved an expenditure of millions of euros, including subsidies for voters to fly in for the day, but are asking us to vote blindly. Our learned parliamentarians have stated clearly in the same motion that the proposed law is a major one, with historic and highly significant import and, yet, they did not approve a cent of expenditure to educate the voting public.

During the past months, it was evident that the pro-divorcists tried their best to hide the facts and to push voters on sentiment. They portrayed as heartless those wanting to retain a marriage for life. They shamelessly used victims of domestic abuse and children born out of wedlock, despite clear, irrefutable evidence that both the incidence of domestic violence and the number of children born out of wedlock are increasing in all countries having divorce. On prime time TV slots they claim the right to walk away from commitments and how important it is to instil a divorce mentality.

At the same time, the proponents of a no-fault divorce refuse to assess its foreseen impact on Malta’s marriages and families, calling such an assessment a “gimmick”. On the contrary, we would say, it is easy to gauge what impact divorce has had on families and marriages worldwide. Nowhere has the family or the well-being of children improved with the availability of divorce, let alone with the proposed unilateral no-fault divorce before our Parliament.

Whether you are married, separated or single, divorce will affect you should it become law. For starters, it is contagious (Daily Telegraph, February 2011) and tends to weaken the marriage commitment. It has led to increased rates of cohabitation (witness the 400 per cent increase in the 10 years after Ireland introduced divorce in 1997). The increase in marital and relationship breakdown will weigh heavily on the nation’s purse (witness the estimated 2010 expenditure in the UK of £41 billion. This is taxpayers’ money diverted from other public needs such as education, health, pensions and social security).

Should the Maltese Parliament introduce divorce, your children and future generations will grow in a culture that looks on marriage and divorce as equally acceptable and available under Maltese law. The rate of marriage breakdown (which was a relatively low seven per cent of all marriages according to the NSO census 2005) will inevitably increase to the high levels in countries with divorce.

You and your children deserve the best and no one will dispute that a lifelong commitment in marriage guarantees the best environment for children and couples. We cannot allow the family and our children to be used as pawns to accommodate personal or political agendas.

On account of the above actions of some of our MPs, on account of the misleading referendum question and the irresponsible abdication of our leaders from informing Maltese citizens on the importance of strong families and the ill-effects of divorce on society but, more importantly, in order to ensure that the vast majority of Maltese families remain strong and united, you should vote no to the referendum question on Saturday.

Dr Camilleri is chairman of the Moviment Żwieġ Bla Divorzju.