UN report on Malta’s human rights record | Mirane Vella, Joanna Onions

It isn’t easy for any government to concentrate on upholding human rights, even when they have an avowed commitment to them, and particularly when they prove to be contentious, or to impact only minorities.

For this reason, each United Nations (UN) member state is the subject of Universal Periodic Review by the UN’s Human Rights Council. This is a unique process in which, over a period of four and a half years, UN member states assess each of their fellow-members’ records on human rights, based on information from the government concerned, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, and other stakeholders, including NGOs, who choose to make submissions.

This year, it was Malta’s turn, amongst others, to receive recommendations from member states on how it can improve its adherence to human rights. The report on Malta was considered at the 29th meeting of the Human Rights Council on 8 July.

While there was progress to note, and the Maltese government accepted most of the recommendations made by other states, there remain many areas of concern.

With the support of our colleagues Humanists International, Humanists Malta made a verbal statement to the 8th July meeting (one of only six statements accepted from stakeholders, and limited to two minutes. It can be found here https://youtu.be/FXT7I_FesGA).

We focused on the disproportionate influence of the Catholic Church, including with its constitutional position, on the issues of abortion, sexual and reproductive health rights, sex education, and ethics education, reiterating our concerns laid out in an earlier joint submission with Aditus.

We also urged the Maltese government to implement without delay the recommendations which they had accepted from member states on the establishment of a human rights body (similar to recommendations they accepted in 2018 but have yet to accomplish), and a consolidated law on equality and anti-discrimination.

Apart from the issues raised by Humanists Malta, there were also recommendations from member states on better treatment of migrants; eliminating racism, gender discrimination and gender-based violence; treatment of the disabled; protection against child abuse; help for the victims of human trafficking; ensuring freedom of the press; and tackling climate change, all of which jar with the optimistic picture painted by the Maltese government’s input to the review.

We sincerely hope that, beyond promises and optimism, the review, including our submission and subsequent statement, leads to tangible improvements in the respect for human rights in Malta, however difficult some of them might seem in the current political climate.