New law to remove discrimination against children born out of wedlock

The Justice Ministry is working on a new law which while removing discrimination between children born within a marriage and those born out of wedlock, would also seek to strengthen the institution of marriage, Parliamentary Secretary Dolores Cristina told parliament yesterday.

Concluding the second reading debate on a bill to appoint the Commissioner for Children, Mrs Cristina insisted that the role of the Commissioner would not only be to hear complaints and shortcomings affecting children, but also to monitor legislation and policies and make recommendations for the benefit of children.

"The main role of the commissioner will be to shine a spotlight on children within the national political agenda."

The position of children born outside wedlock was raised earlier in the debate yesterday by opposition justice spokesman Anglu Farrugia, who observed that the Constitutional Court had decided in a 1997 case that there could be no discrimination between children, whether or not they were born within a marriage.

In his speech, Dr Farrugia said that according to the bill, the commissioner had to be a public officer. Was he to be a full or part timer?

He observed that the commissioner could be suspended from his function if the prime minister so decided following consultation with the Social Affairs Committee. Was the committee to have a sort of appeal function?

Dr Farrugia said the members of the Council for Children, which is being set up in terms of this bill to assist the commissioner, should be chosen from among the organisations which really worked in the interest of children, such as the Ghaqda Genituri Nharsu l-Uliedna.

He said there should be a Tribunal for Children to safeguard children's rights.

Dr Michael Farrugia, opposition spokesman on health, said sports facilities in schools needed to be better utilised. He suggested that such facilities be made available to local councils for use by the community after school hours.

Dr Farrugia said most localities lacked facilities to cater for children aged 11-15, a delicate age when several youngsters started to dabble in smoking, drugs and alcohol. In this context he wanted to praise band clubs, the Christian Doctrine Society, the Scouts, sports organisations and others which were providing an opening for such youngsters.

But more was needed for these people to have properly supervised places of entertainment. This was something the new Commissioner for Children should involve himself in.

Dr Farrugia also insisted on education for parents and children on healthy eating. Too many children were overweight, and this created problems later in life, he said.

The Labour MP said the House should not simply be informed about the appointment of the Commissioner, but there should be agreement on the nomination.

He also referred to the Council for Children and said the bill should be more detailed on how representatives of NGOs could be represented.

Labour MP Leo Brincat spoke on the importance of a healthy environment for children. Children, he said, were exposed to 15,000 synthetic chemical and outdoor environmental hazards.

Locally, the two main problems which affected children were allergies and asthma. This showed the need for a child focused health policy and Malta should put children's health at the forefront of its political agenda. Certain environmental policy decisions taken to safeguard the health of adults could be ineffective when it came to children.

The US Food Quality and Protection Act, enacted in 1996, had an additional safety factor for children. This was positive and Malta should follow this example. It should also promote better environmental policies.

Malta, Mr Brincat said, should be innovative and create a forum in which children would also participate. Tony Blair had created a think tank formed of children of certain intelligence to make proposals on topical subjects which affected them but did not directly concern them.

Winding up, Mrs Cristina said a children's parliament had been organised in the House twice and Mr Brincat's proposal for a think tank formed by children should be taken on board. When children were given an opportunity to speak they proved they were as capable of making suggestions as valid as anybody else's.

Children should be included in all debates and not just this one. They should be mainstreamed into every policy and decision that was taken. It was for this reason that she disagreed with the appointment of a minister for children.

Mrs Cristina said she agreed that although a lot had been done for the benefit of children, much still needed to be done including updating legislation on fostering and adoption.

The commissioner, she insisted, would not be replacing parents or the family. Children were not a possession of their parents. They and their family were one unit and that unit's needs had to be addressed.

Ms Cristina said there were different kinds of families and these should not be discriminated against.

The commissioner would not be there just to see to complaints and give redress. Had that been the case, an ombudsman, rather than a commissioner, would have been appointed.

The commissioner, however, would have a proactive role, identifying the best interests of children and taking action before problems developed.

He would make recommendations to improve the state of children and look at the whole scenario and not to individual problems. He would seek to address structural injustices or shortcomings, monitor existing legislation and give an input on new legislation and policies, and draw up child impact studies.

The commissioner had to be the children's voice in the local political arena to ensure that more child friendly policies were drawn up.

Ms Cristina paid tribute to parents' organisations which acted as pressure groups over various issues in favour of their children. Such groups, she said, should unite.

Referring to remarks by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi about the content of magazines distributed with the Sunday papers, Mrs Cristina said she agreed that some of the features were not suitable for children. At a time when children were being encouraged to read, parents were ending up keeping their children away from certain parts of the magazines.

She was also not happy with the values being promoted on local television, despite a code of conduct for this sector regarding the screening of programmes of a certain content.

While she was not advocating censorship, there should clearly be some form of control in the media in the interests of children.

When she spoke on the legislation being prepared to remove discrimination between children, Mrs Cristina said children were part of the family and should not be divided from it. This government wanted to strengthen the rights of children and the family as a unit.

Concluding, she said the commissioner would work closely with the House Social Affairs Committee, which had already done substantial work for children, particularly its debate on children at risk.