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Human Rights Chief Welcomes Abortion Debate But Insists Criminalisation Puts Maltese Women’s Health At Risk  

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The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has urged Maltese authorities to repeal legislation enforcing a total ban on abortion in Malta, insisting that the result of the ban puts women’s health at risk. 

Noting that Malta’s abortion laws were among the most restrictive among Council of Europe member states, Mijatović urged authorities to immediately repeal provisions criminalising abortion, and to ensure all women’s access to sexual and reproductive health care, including safe and legal abortion care. 

She welcomed the developing debate on this issue but stressed that “the fact that abortion is still criminalised and stigmatised not only puts Maltese women’s health at risk but also affects their equal enjoyment of other human rights”.

In addition to having some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, Malta also lacks any coherent or realistic sexual health policy – a fact reflected in the country’s high rate of teen pregnancies and incidence of sexually transmitted infections. 

Last week, Health Minister Chris Fearne admitted that the publication of Malta’s first sexual health policy in 12 years had been postponed because a first draft of the policy was “found to have been based on outdated information”. 

Mijatović also urged authorities to step up efforts to ensure equality between men and women. 

The commissioner was in Malta last week for talks with Prime Minister Robert Abela, during which she attended a number of events marking four years since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

She urged the government to implement the recommendations of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s assassination, including tangible measures to ensure the safety of journalists, both from physical harm and from vexatious lawsuits. 

The commissioner also voiced concerns about the conditions in which refugees, asylum seekers and migrants were housed at the Safi Detention Centre. 

Acknowledging that the number of individuals at the centre had been reduced in recent months, Mijatović noted that concerns still existed about the legal grounds for their detention. 

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Yannick joined Lovin Malta in March 2021 having started out in journalism in 2016. He is passionate about politics and the way our society is governed, and anything to do with numbers and graphs. He likes dogs more than he does people.

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