Children's Commissioner calls for second Family Court judge

Many children were suffering as a result of the delays in the Family Court and there was a critical need to have more than one judge handling these cases, Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri said yesterday.

"At present the one judge assigned to the Family Court has over 500 cases to tackle. Children and families face a constant trauma until their case is resolved and it is of utmost importance that another judge be appointed to this court as soon as possible," she said.

Ms Camilleri was speaking at a children's creative workshop to mark World Children's Day.

While stressing that Malta had made great strides forward with regard to children's rights and services, she felt it was important to highlight issues that had to be addressed in the best interests of children and young people.

One of these was the lack of resources for services which helped and protected children.

"Traumatised children cannot be put on waiting lists, while children with challenging behaviour need more professional and therapeutic help than they have access to today," she pointed out.

Ms Camilleri said it was also time to examine carefully whether school truly proved to be an experience that simulated children's thirst for knowledge and prepared them for life.

"In a world where the media dominates so visibly, it is only children in a limited number of schools who are being equipped through media education to cope with this pressure. All others have no preparation in dealing with this phenomenon," she said.

On a positive note, Ms Camilleri said that it was very heartening to see that a magistrate had been appointed to fast-track pending cases of child abuse.

Another encouraging step had been the move to ban smoking from many places that children frequented with their families.

During yesterday's activity at her office in Valletta, children had the chance to expand their knowledge on children's rights through colouring and writing poems.

Ms Camilleri also launched the logo designed and chosen by the young people themselves for the Children's Commission.

The drawing of Francesca Bezzina, 14, was selected from 600 entries for its powerful message. The drawing portrays a circle of eight figures in different colours to show that all children had rights, even if they lived in different life situations.

One of the figures within the circle has longer hands stretching out, emphasising the point that children with a disability should be treated no different than 'normal' children.

"Diversity is important because we live together in one world and everyone needs each other. The circle also shows that love between children should be infinite," Francesca said.

Mark Anthony Sammut, 11, a member of the Council for Children, also spoke during the press conference and highlighted the importance of respecting children's rights.

Mark also echoed a wish of many young people who wanted to see a news programme specifically targeted for children.

"It would be nice to have news items which interest us and that we can understand, while keeping violence to a minimum," he said.

In line with yesterday's occasion, Ms Camilleri yesterday appealed to all children and young people to join her in a Human Rights March on December 11. Everyone will be meeting near the statue of Christ the King, Floriana, at 10.30 a.m.