Malta has signed a convention that seeks to protect adults who are not in a position to protect their own interests, if they move overseas. 

The 2000 Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults furthers some objectives of the United Nations 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

More specifically, it focuses on cross-border situations in which such people or their property move between countries, to ensure their interests are protected and that arrangements made previously by the adult are respected in other countries. 

Inclusion Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli signed the convention on behalf of the Maltese government at the Hague in the Netherlands. Signing a convention does not mean that a government must respect its provisions: for the Convention to become binding on the Maltese government, parliament must ratify it. 

The minister however described the signing as a “historic moment for Malta” and said that every adult with a disability would now enjoy strengthened international protection. 

“This is a strong message that, as a government, we are sending not only on a national level, but also on an international level,” she said. 

So far, 20 countries have signed the convention and 14 have ratified it. 

Malta is the 17th EU member state to have signed the convention and the first since Portugal did so in 2018. The convention is led by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), which Malta has been a member of since 1995. The country is bound by 11 other HCCH conventions.  

Present for the signing was permanent secretary Nancy Caruana, Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry treaties division head Jules van Eijndhoven, Malta’s ambassador to the Netherlands Mark Pace and representatives from the European Union and several EU member states and other countries.