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Pragmatism appears to be the motivating force behind new Children’s Commissioner Carmen Zammit, who plans to create a council for children to elect representatives to voice their concerns directly to her
Carmen Zammit is not used to being in the media limelight. Her career as a social worker has involved helping children, adolescents and families from some of Malta’s most problematic backgrounds, and setting up programmes for teenage girls who are victims of abuse and in need of residential care.
 Her formation in social work means her feet are firmly on the ground – she knows the problems out there, some of the worst cases, the helplessness and vicious circles that come with poverty and social exclusion.
It is perhaps this social worker’s sense of realism that makes her guarded in her approach to the media, although her intermittent smile betrays an enthusiasm and drive to work and get things done.
As the newly appointed children’s commissioner, the 64-year-old former nun of the Good Shepherd admits that her new role requires her to look beyond the problematic areas.
“As commissioner I have to look at all the children of Malta, not just at the category I used to work with,” she says. “I have to take into consideration the fact that there are children living in families without any particular difficulties. My role as commissioner is to look at the services given to all children, the resources available to them, so that they take as much as possible from society and their families.”
The office where she works in Santa Venera is definitely not new to her. From here, she directed social workers in assisting families when she was Director of the Department for Family Welfare until she moved to lead a residential programme for young women.
“My background is an advantage because it makes me aware of the realities of certain children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds when compared to others whose families afford them a certain quality of life. Having said that I don’t think my experience will serve to blind me to the realities of other children who are not in problematic situations.”
One programme she had kick-started is known as Programm Fejda, a residential service for teenage girls with behavioural problems who had nowhere to live.
“The programme had begun when I was a social worker and these adolescents would have usually gone to the Good Shepherd nuns’ home, but it was about to be closed off, so I was very worried, asking myself where they would end up. So I started devising plans on how to run this programme. It was the kind of work I always wanted to do, and it was a great experience. This job makes you face realities and problems which you would never face if you’re born in a family that does not have that kind of problems, even though everyone’s life has its problems.”
That experience and others make her convinced that children’s development is intimately linked to their families and immediate environment, and now as commissioner she says one cannot tackle children in isolation.
“The family is essential for children’s development. You have to understand children in the context of their families. It is also important for one to realise that besides rights, children also have obligations. It is also stated in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, that besides rights children also have duties, depending on their age. You can’t help children and speak about their rights unless you speak about their rights within the family. This is vital, and I say this because I have seen the effects on children who did not have the good fortune of living in a family, and it affects their personality and their development, they suffer a lot. So inevitably, if you want to help children you have to help them within the family.”
Zammit acknowledges the widening definition of the family although she believes “the traditional model has much value to offer”. But she adds: “By family I understand the environment in which children are raised, where they get the love, direction and sound values for life. This can also happen in a single parent family if the parent passes on life values, through actions not words, to the children. It can also happen with children living in a different family, or who are raised by relatives. What’s important is that in the years of their character development, they receive the basic values of life – that is what’s most important.”
She is concerned about parents who may not be planning their lives to fit around their children’s needs although she sees some positive developments towards family friendly measures and childcare centres that will make their life easier.
“Still, the responsibility of the parents remains towards their children,” she adds. “It’s no solution to leave children all day with their grandmother while parents immerse themselves in work and are unable to be with their children.”
I ask her how she feels taking up the position of children’s commissioner in the wake of an acerbic fallout between her predecessor Sonia Camilleri and minister Dolores Cristina, centred mainly on the office’s autonomy. Having worked with government for more than two decades, Zammit seems to know her ways around the corridors of government to get things done without unnecessary friction.
“It’s not a problem at all,” she says. “I’ve worked in other departments and have been working with the government since 1979. I’ve always looked at it from the viewpoint of taking on a role and doing my best. You need patience for certain things as they don’t happen just when you need them and exactly how you want them, but I always speak out when I feel I have to and I don’t give up. Life teaches you a lot of things, particularly that if you believe in something and get others to believe in it, you’ll get results if you’re patient.”
She already sees an improvement in the fact that she has been appointed full time in her post, as opposed to Camilleri’s part-time employment.
“In the three years ahead I will speak about the needs that have to be tackled. Some problems will be solved in my term, others may be solved by my successor – I don’t mind that because that’s life. I’m sure there will be difficulties along the way, but I’m ready for that. And I don’t feel stifled in my work, even though it’s still early days. But I’m hopeful, because all the projects I carried out fell under the social policy ministry and I have always had the freedom to manage them in my way. I was accountable but free.”
Another controversy stirred up by Camilleri was when she opposed IVF treatment for childless couples during a Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee in 2005, with the minister distancing herself from the commissioner’s standpoint. Zammit however steers clear of the controversy by simply responding that she has not thought much about it.
“I haven’t thought about it. Honestly, I haven’t.”
But what’s your personal position?
“I know there was a bit of controversy about it, but I haven’t thought about it. Because at the end of the day, despite my personal stand – I won’t deny my values and principles – but I don’t want them to influence me in issues such as this. I can believe something, but then in my office I have a different hat. This is like religion – I’m Catholic, but then my values will remain my own, I won’t impose them on anyone. That’s something I also learnt in social work. You can never impose your values on anyone.”
One issue she feels very strongly about regards the role of the media in covering specific cases involving children. Her stand goes beyond protecting children’s identity; in her view cases like last week’s case of the baby found in a shoebox in Cospicua should not even be reported at all – a draconian stand which, in true social worker fashion, she justifies on the basis of “the best interests of the child”.
“I disagree absolutely with the way it was reported in the media,” she says about the case. “I mean, this is something that will remain there, and it affects the child forever. The publicity it was given, the way it was made public went against the interests of the child involved.
“You have to bear in mind that when this child grows up and gets to know what happened, it’s going to be a trauma for him, and there are different ways of telling him. When school children get to know about these things, because parents gossip a lot and so do their children, it will be very detrimental for him. That is why the media’s involvement in these cases, with all that publicity, is definitely not in the child’s interest – there’s no question about that. It’s about people’s curiosity, sensationalism.”
But isn’t the media duty-bound to report these realities as well and shed a light on these problems?
“One can treat these issues without going into particular cases. Imagine this child when he is 12 and someone at schools asks him if his mother had put him in shoebox. No good can come of it, only negative effects for the child. Do you think anyone who saw the reporting on television came out any wiser? It was pure curiosity, nothing else. They won’t be helping him. The agencies that are there to help are in fact involved and giving their help, but I can’t see any good coming out of this publicity. As a social worker and children’s commissioner I say this case should not have been mentioned in the media. It shouldn’t have been mentioned. It’s not just about this case mind you – one should always keep the interest of the child first. I have no doubt it’s not in their interest. It’s very harmful. People didn’t learn anything from this incident. They looked at it as a curious news item that rarely happens, nothing more. And the trauma this child has to go through… It’s not even a question of making people aware, because people are aware enough of the problems.”
Among her priorities, Zammit wants to create a children’s council where representatives selected by their peers from schools would meet regularly to voice their interests and concerns.
“I still have to find a way of doing this with the education ministry. I would like to also do something similar for parents. I also want to keep contact with schools, and continue the weekend seminars on children’s rights that were already being carried out. I would also like to have a more dynamic website for children, where they would be able to write their comments and send their emails. I also can’t forget the Gozitan children”
Children’s right to play is also a concern highlighted by Zammit’s predecessor – at least 46 per cent of playing fields were found to be lacking in safety standards and the more the country gets built up, the less the spaces where children can roam freely while they remain prohibited from playing in public gardens where football, bicycles and skateboards are banned.
“It’s something I have to look into and work upon. I remember when I was a child we used to play in the streets, hide and seek, football and what have you, and it was a very positive experience. Nowadays it’s impossible, not just because of the traffic but also because of several concerns and our lifestyles. Even the countryside itself is restricted. It’s something we have lost, and we have to reflect on the alternatives.”
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