Malta continues to distinguish between civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, human rights organisations have noted.  

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the organisations said Malta’s Constitution did not recognise the indivisible nature of all fundamental human rights. Instead, it endorsed a political and legal split between, on the one hand, civil and political rights and, on the other, economic, social and cultural rights.

“This leads to a situation where rights, such as the ones to work, food, social protection, education and housing, are merely ‘principles… fundamental to the governance of the country’ but lacking the strength of law, the authority of justice,” the Platform of Human Rights Organisations in Malta (Phrom) said.

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It stressed the significance of embracing the indivisible nature of all fundamental human rights.

This leads to a situation where rights are merely principles

The universal declaration did not rank or prioritise human rights but gave them all an equal standing in the way they all collectively contributed to human dignity.

Malta afforded the highest possible level of protection to those human rights enshrined in chapter four of the 1964 Constitution. Described as civil and political rights, these freedoms did not only enjoy the status of constitutional rights but were legally enforceable before the courts.

This enabled thousands to claim their rights before the courts and led to changes to laws and policies held to be in violation of fundamental human rights.

However, the same could not be said of economic, social and cultural rights, which were found in chapter two of the Constitution and were identified as ‘principles’.

This meant that victims were helpless in cases where the state failed to respect, protect and fulfil such rights despite them being equally central to human dignity.

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“In 2018, decades after Malta’s Independence, no reasonable justification may be brought in defence of the impossibility of demanding justice for breaches of the rights to education, work, housing, an adequate standard of living, health, culture and science,” Phrom said.

In the spirit proclaimed by the universal declaration, Phrom urged the House of Representatives to commit to elevating economic, social and cultural rights to the status they deserved by granting them the authority of law and the protection of justice.