Divorce is already here

Referring to letters by Mr Joseph Falzon (The Sunday Times, December 19) and other readers, I cannot but agree with their conclusions that it is high time for our elected representatives to take cognisance of the current high rate of marital breakdown. Our MPs must make it clear to the public that that they are aware of the situation and most importantly that they have some idea of how to tackle this issue and do something about it!

A look at the Demographic Review 2003 clearly shows that in reality divorce is already present in Maltese society and it is on the increase. As a result of this (and also for other reasons), the number of civil marriages is rising fast. It has almost tripled since 1994, when 311 civil marriages took place. In 2003 there were over 800 civil marriages, and these should rise to over 1,000 by the end of this year. In 2003, 34 per cent of all marriages were civil marriages compared to just 13 per cent in 1994. This should set some alarm bells ringing somewhere...

What is really relevant however is the marital status of the couples marrying in Malta in 2003. From a total of 2,350 couples marrying in 2003, 143 grooms and 113 brides were divorcees. In reality, this means that six per cent of grooms (five per cent in 2002) and five per cent of brides (four per cent in 2002) were divorcees, who were lucky enough to obtain their divorces from abroad and remarried in Malta in 2003 under Maltese law.

Some may argue that these are foreigners who have obtained divorces from their respective countries and remarried a Maltese citizen in Malta. However, we all live in Malta and everyone is aware that this is untrue. We are all aware that a considerable number of Maltese citizens have obtained divorces abroad and have remarried in Malta.

This means that while prohibiting the great majority of the country's citizens from remarrying by not responsibly legislating for divorce, our politicians are also discriminating against the majority of their constituents while giving the advantage to a privileged few who can obtain a divorce from abroad and contract a new civil marriage in Malta.

This is a clear case of two weights and two measures and I wonder what our MEPs (among others) have to say about it. I do not want to appear critical of these "lucky" few who have managed to obtain a divorce from abroad and remarry in Malta. I am critical of the law and all our political representatives who are like the three monkeys - blind, deaf and dumb to the needs of their constituents who have gone through failed marriages and who have rebuilt their lives (some with new families) but are not legally recognised as having done so.

The introduction of divorce legislation is simply a legal means of recognising the fact that marriages do irretrievably break down and giving the opportunity to both parties involved to start afresh while looking after the interests of any children involved.

Divorce legislation will also give legal recognition to any new relationships the divorcees may wish to enter into while also extending legal recognition to their new spouses and any children who may be involved. Divorce legislation cannot be considered as a solution to marital breakdowns but neither can it be considered as a cause.

As things stand, we have a situation where our elected representatives are not only culpable of looking away from the fact that marriages do irretrievably break down but they are also guilty of discriminating between those citizens who are fortunate enough to obtain a divorce from abroad and those who are not.