Today’s trends, tomorrow: Facebook privacy, human rights, and gender identity in the new year

The year that passed was in a sense characterised by revelations and controversies, culminating in promises of reform.

On top of an ongoing overhaul of the justice system, 2014 also brought with it a series of events that forced the country to reconsider the state of many of its other institutions: not least, the Police Force, after a damning inquiry report culminated in the resignation of both the Acting Police Commissioner and also the Home Affairs Minister last November.

Among the more disturbing of these revelations was another judicial inquiry, this time into the death of an asylum seeker at the Hal Safi detention centre in 2012 – but published two years later – which uncovered gross negligence and mismanagement at various levels of Malta’s controversial immigration policy.

Immigration was itself one of the major concerns of 2014, even if the impact on Malta was less dramatic than in previous years. Prompted by large-scale deaths off Lampedusa in 2013, the Italian government launched ‘Mare Nostrum’: a naval operation that effectively absorbed the vast majority of asylum seekers who survived the perilous Mediterranean crossing this year.

All this seems set to change, however, as Italy will be winding down the Mare Nostrum operation in the wake of the EU’s Frontex mission, code-named Triton. 

As with former Frontex operations, Triton has already been weakened by internal EU dissent: individual member states have refused to participate, and EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom conceded (in Malta, last September) that Triton will be a “smaller operation” than Mare Nostrum: “Frontex does not have the funds or the assets to take over the Italian mission,” she said. “It is up to Italy to decide whether it wants to stop its mission or not but Frontex will definitely not replace the Italian mission.” 

In view of all this, Neil Falzon, chair of human rights NGO Aditus, expects the situation to deteriorate further in 2015.

“With the end of Mare Nostrum and a limited Frontex operation, it is expected that spring/summer 2015 could revert to pre-Mare Nostrum in terms of crossings, and therefore also in terms of deaths,” he told MaltaToday. “Smugglers and traffickers won’t downsize their business model, simply because there will be fewer rescue operations.” 

On the contrary, there is evidence of an increase in human trafficking in the past year. The Italian government reported that 112,000 undocumented migrants – nearly three times the influx of 2013 – had tried to reach Italy by September; of these, over 3,000 died in the attempt.

“Two important points will need to be addressed in 2015,” Falzon points out. “One, the capacity of places like Greece, Malta and Italy to deal with not only the survivors but also – and importantly – with those who don’t make it; and two, the EU’s insistence on policies that effectively prohibit legal and safe access to the EU, with limited space for alternatives. We start every year hoping policies, language and approach will change, that we will remember the thousands of lives lost, families broken... This year we will continue hoping, and pushing for change. Malta has the potential to play a key role in contributing to bringing about this change.”

The coming year will also herald changes on the local immigration front. The aforementioned inquiry report also resulted in the promise of an overhaul of detention procedures. Neil Falzon points out that Malta has international obligations to meet in this regard as well.

“Summer 2015 marks a very important deadline for all EU member states, including Malta. It is the deadline to incorporate into national laws the EU’s revised set of asylum legal instruments. Why is this so important for Malta? Because these revised instruments contain clear rules on the detention of asylum seekers, on the protection of unaccompanied minors, on the need to identify and support vulnerable asylum seekers and on guaranteeing a sensitive asylum procedure for those persons in particularly difficult circumstances.” 

For Malta, he adds, this means a radical revision of the way we have been receiving and treating asylum seekers: “a move towards an individualised approach that respects the human dignity of all persons involved whilst ensuring the integrity of national asylum procedures.”

A landmark year for human rights

But not all Falzon’s predictions for 2015 are dire. The human rights activist is optimistic ahead of the enactment of a number of important local legal reforms.

“If plans are followed through, 2015 will see the Civil Liberties Ministry start a radical revision of Malta’s human rights machinery. The White Paper published in December 2014 promises unified human rights legislation and institutions, together with a space for effective dialogue with civil society organisations. We will certainly contribute to this process, also through the Platform of Human Rights Organisations in Malta (www.humanrightsplatform.org.mt), and reiterate the need for human rights education to be included at all educational levels.”

Among the more specific articles of legislation is a Gender Identity Bill, which should be adopted in early 2015. 

“This will bring about a significant improvement in the quality of lives of Malta’s transgender community, insofar as it will allow for amendment of personal official documentation without the need to undergo surgical interventions that are expensive, life-threatening and result in sterilisation of the person. It will open up human rights enjoyment to a group of persons who continue to face severe hardships at school, when attempting to find work and in personal and social relations. We are keen to see whether this law will also encourage the transgender community to become more empowered, visible and vocal.”

A year of equality achievements

The LGBT community is not the only group to look forward to 2015 with optimism. Renee Laiviera, Malta’s Gender Equality Commissioner, likewise expects the coming year to carry on its predecessor’s trend for redressing an otherwise gaping gender gap in Malta’s political and commercial hemispheres.

“In 2014 there was a move towards more women being represented in positions of decision-making: Marie Louise Coleiro Preca as President; Helena Dalli as Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties; nine women out of 69 members of parliament, including Justyne Caruana as the Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing; and four women out of six elected MEPs. Approximately 35% of positions in Category A of the public sector are now held by women.”

Laviera hopes to build on this promising record in 2015. “But there is still work to be done to achieve a balanced representation of women in positions of decision making. In fact, at EU level, Malta has declared itself in favour of having binding measures for more balanced representation of women and men on boards of major companies.”

Until such measures are in place, she adds that NCPE is currently working on a set of initiatives to empower more women to participate in decision-making positions.  

“In particular, a mentoring programme to provide women aspiring to hold decision-making positions with the opportunity to be mentored by successful persons who occupy high-level jobs. This will be preceded by a training programme for mentees.”

Another project in the pipeline is a Directory of Maltese and Gozitan Professional Women, which the Commissioner hopes will “give visibility to professional women and their competences in various fields with the possibility to be appointed to serve on Boards, Committees, Representations or any other decision-making positions.”

NCPE is also working on two research studies: “One on gender-balanced representation in decision-making in various fields, and another one on gender quotas and related measures. This research will provide findings and recommendations that can be utilised by policy makers to improve the gender balance in decision-making positions.”

Enter stage left

Elsewhere, expectations are high for 2015 also in the sphere of culture and the arts. Adrian Buckle, director of local theatre company Unifaun, looks forward to finding out what the coming cultural calendar will look like.

“There are many exciting things going on at the moment. St James Cavalier has a new artistic director [Toni Sant] and I await to see what his vision will offer us. So far there is nothing new: St James Cavalier continues to build on the solid foundations former Artistic Director Chris Gatt created… which is a good thing. Good things and good ideas should be nurtured. But I think that the new artistic director will want to leave his own mark on the centre…”

He admits, however, that he has so far been disappointed by the events leading to Valletta’s coronation as Capital of Culture in 2018.

“So far, the V18 thing has done very little where the arts are concerned. The greatest insult was to place funds intended for the arts to stage a UEFA Football Tournament. It showed that the people behind Valletta 2018 had no vision or understanding of the arts. Now there is a new Artistic Director. Hopefully he will turn things around. But reports that he attacked Islam and immigration on Facebook were definitely not a good start. One would have expected him to be sacked, no matter how capable he is. Certain comments are just not acceptable. But he was offered a reprieve. Let’s hope he makes the best of the situation. Mario Philip Azzopardi productions attract crowds to the theatre so hopefully his choice will serve as a boost for the local theatre scene...”

As for the theatre scene in 2015, Buckle’s guess is as good as anyone else’s.

“I really don’t know what to expect. The last couple of years have seen the abolition of theatre censorship in Malta, which was a good move. However, Blasphemy Laws and Obscenity Laws remain in force and it only takes one conservative hypocrite to torment an artist on these lines. I would hope that 2015 sees the arts being declared unaffected by these medieval laws, so that the artists can express themselves fully. This does not mean that artists will suddenly start engaging in pornography, as the more conservative supporters of these laws might argue. It would simply mean that the artist can explore certain fields without fear of being prosecuted.”

His own company Unifaun will however be busier than usual in the next 12 months.

“2015 will be a very interesting year for my company, Unifaun. In March, I accept a challenge laid down to me ever since I started producing: to stage a Harold Pinter play. The play in question is Old Times. In October 2015, we will challenge Maltese audiences on a very sensitive subject. In fact we will be tackling abortion. The play we will be staging is called Keely & Du, written by Jane Martin.  It will be directed by American director Dave Barton, who in the past directed Sarah Kane’s Blasted for me.”

Adrian Buckle expects the production to be controversial, even if the play itself does not take up any position on the issue.

“Keely & Du is neither pro-life nor pro-choice, but it does challenge both views enough to make the audience rethink their own positions. We are also trying to organize discussions after the shows. Should be an interesting project…”

It will all happen on Facebook…

But whatever controversies 2015 will throw at us, one thing is (almost) certain: the social media are likely to be as much of a catalyst for events this year as they were in 2014. 

Blogger Josanne Cassar reminds us that many of the trends of the past year were either initiated or transmitted through websites such as Facebook: a trend that is likely to evolve further in the near future.

“I think online social commentary, especially via Facebook and the comments section of news portals, will continue to be a major player in 2015. The mainstream media is no longer in the grip of a few key ‘movers and shakers’: now, anyone with a keyboard is potentially an opinion columnist.”

While the sphere of social media has broadened in recent years, Cassar predicts that Facebook will remain the most influential “go to” source for all kinds of information.

“To date, nothing else seems to have effectively infiltrated the sheer numbers in Malta which Facebook has. While valiant attempts were made to galvanize Twitter into the same kind of popularity, it has just not caught on here… probably because not that many people are able to express themselves succinctly in 140 characters or fewer. Twitter also requires you to have ‘followers’ and for you to ‘follow’ others, which just seems to be too much of a bother.”

She points out that Facebook has already changed the way we communicate, how we contact (and gossip about) people, how businesses market their products, how events are promoted, how we network and how we obtain our news. 

“Judging from the online activity first thing in the morning, Facebook is also the first thing many people turn to the minute they open their eyes to share everything from their breakfast, to their mood to the weather to traffic conditions.”

This may have even affected the way people conduct their daily lives. “Where a few years ago most people would have been reluctant to disclose their politics, I have noticed a shift in this respect, leading people to ‘connect’ when they discover acquaintances who share their views (or, more drastically, to disconnect with friends whose views they don’t  share).” 

The shorthand of social media has even changed the way we speak: “Selfies, the ice bucket challenge, going viral, sharing statuses, videos and photos, adding ‘friends’ and, of course, clicking ‘like’. These phrases and expressions would have sounded like Greek to all of us pre-2007, but these days even people in their 70s and 80s understand this new “language”.  

Glancing back at 2014, Josanne Cassar reasons that our perceptions of many of the events of the year may have been more influenced by social media than we realise.

“As we have seen from recent political events in which the Prime Minister was forced to dismiss (Home Affairs Minister) Manuel Mallia, I think it was the social media, more than any other medium, which helped to shape and crystallize public opinion. There was a lot of fiercely heated, yet democratically healthy debates across the political spectrum, especially because of the unique ability of Facebook to share news stories from online portals, YouTube and blogs, drawing people’s attention by ‘tagging’ them, and inviting them into discussions they would otherwise not be aware of…”

Projected into the future, Cassar sees this as a trend on the upswing… even if it comes complete with its own risks. Among the more curious news items of the year was a story about how ‘naked selfies’ of Maltese girls ended up on a public file-sharing website: laying bare the potential dangers of exposing too much of one’s private life on the worldwide web.

“Of course, there are those who will still (understandably) prefer to use Facebook simply to interact with their immediate, restricted social circle of friends and family, where everyone shares the same opinion. Averse to the intrusive nature of the medium, more people are understanding the wisdom of locking down their timeline and photos with privacy settings…”

This is unlikely to rob Facebook of its pervasive influence on Maltese social life.

“As a communications tool which allows for the creation and exchange of user-generated content, I think it will continue to be indispensable in the fields of politics, marketing and social commentary… as a means to gauge public opinion on any given issue, or even for something as innocuous as finding old friends and new ones who share your likes and dislikes.”