Malta’s Women Lobby has issued a damning statement, accusing authorities of “simply not doing enough” to ensure that victims of domestic violence are being given adequate protection and timely justice.

This comes just as the 16 days of activism have now come to a close, just over a year since the brutal murder of Bernice Cilia (Cassar). Despite recommendations of the inquiry into Cilia’s murder, there is still a big backlog in cases, with victims having to wait over a year until their aggressor is summoned in court.

“With a backlog of 2283 cases, evidently the appointment of a second magistrate to deal with such cases is not enough,” the statement said. 

“What is worse, that it has recently come to light that the second Magistrate appointed by the Justice Ministry to support the domestic violence caseload, that previously fell solely on Magistrate Lanfranco, is, since September, no longer dealing with domestic violence cases.”

“This suggests that the appointment of a second magistrate was just lip service, and there was never any serious intention of rectifying the caseload situation.”

“It’s all well and good for the government to launch a national strategy on gender-based violence (GBV) and domestic violence (DV), however, we ask the authorities to bear with us if we’re not quite applauding and clutching our pearls at this news.”

“What’s the point of publishing nicely worded policies if their implementation remains questionable?”

It continued to say how in normal countries when governments issue a strategy of this importance, it normally starts from a well-defined budget to ensure that the plan can be executed effectively without financial constraints.

“Phrases like ‘sufficiently safeguards victims of domestic and gender-based violence’, promises that measures will be ‘implemented effectively’, and ensuring that crimes are ‘prosecuted effectively’, mean nothing until real progress can be tangibly seen to be taking place and someone is held accountable when it’s not materialising.”

“We’ve had it up to our eyeballs with fancy talk and flashy press conferences that, ultimately, have no real and timely impact on the ones who need it most.”

“Concrete and timely action is what this country needs.”

The lobby also referred to a recent announcement on electronic tagging and panic buttons to be introduced in cases where a person has a protection order issued in their favour.

“This development was first mentioned over 10 years ago. Let’s hope that we won’t have to wait for another 10 years for its implementation. We stress that it is the duty of the state to protect the victim and the onus should not be put on the victim to request the electronic tagging of the perpetrator.”

The MWL would also like to highlight that gender-based violence affects women and girls disproportionally which is why it demands that the term Violence Against Women (VAW) becomes part of the government’s narrative as well as included in any proposed legislation.

Finally, the MWL would like to applaud and salute the indefatigable NGOs who have been demanding progress for years and years.

“Civil society should not have to demand the most basic of measures from the authorities but should use their expertise and their energy on fine-tuning a system that is in place and working efficiently,” it expressed.

“It is beyond disheartening and exhausting to note that the authorities are more interested in holding slick press events to state what they intend to do, yet hardly ever follow up with concrete and significant action.”

“Enough with the rhetoric and the fancy strategies.”

“Enough with delaying tactics and hollow promises.”

“Violence Against Women is a dark stain on our society, and we demand immediate and adequate protection, as well as justice for all victims of this crime.”

What do you make of this powerful statement?