Malta to officially criminalise femicide announces Prime Minister

Feb 1 2022

Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced that Malta will be specifically criminalising femicide. Issuing a statement today, Abela confirmed that Cabinet has approved legal changes which aim at enhancing the fight against gender-based violence and introducing the concept of feminise in the Criminal Code.

More details are set to be published in the coming days said Abela, stating that he wants Parliament to debate this proposed law as soon as possible. The call to criminalise femicide received a larger spark following the murder of Polish 29-year-old Paulina Dembska in Sliema on the 2nd of January 2022.

The Women’s Rights Foundation and the University of Malta proposed that femicide should be considered an aggravated offence to homicide. The proposal was backed by both the Nationalist Party and Volt as well. The proposal was initially rejected on the grounds that there was no need for specific provision for femicide since murder already carried the highest punishment – life imprisonment.

The Cabinet decision however overrules this stance, with Abela saying that he looks forward for the parliamentary process to start as quickly as possible.

#MaltaDaily

A majority of Malta’s recent murders are due to domestic violence

Feb 1 2022

The superintendent in charge of the homicide squad revealed that just under half of all murders committed in Malta were due to domestic violence.

Keith Arnaud was interviewed on ONE Breakfast this morning, giving a breakdown of the 17 murders which took place on the island between 2018 and 2021.

Domestic violence was the most common motive under suspicion by far, amounting to 7 out of 17 cases. Four were linked to fights, three remain unclear, two to criminal activity and one to robbery.

Arnaud said that establishing a motive isn’t important in the eyes of the law, but it can still be used to strengthen legal arguments. ‘It is therefore important for police to establish a motive, even to help you find the killer’ he said.

According to recent statistics, 96% of domestic violence cases in Malta fail to result in conviction, with most ending up exhausted due to a number of reasons. This could be because victims forgive abusers, refuse to testify against them or withdraw their initial criminal complain.

Other statistics also show that 136 people ended up at Mater Dei’s emergency department because of domestic abuse between 2019 and 2020.

#MaltaDaily

Photo Source: One.com.mt FB

Imported drug supplies impacted due to COVID-19 lockdowns

Feb 1 2022

According to the Malta Security Service (MSS), travel restrictions and supply chain shocks forced Maltese organised crime groups to adapt. The agency gave an overview of the local drugs market in its annual report for 2020 which were tabled in parliament last week. The service explained that the mitigation efforts introduced at the start of COVID-19 forced organised crime groups to rethink their trafficking methods.

“The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed lifestyles. The virus, as well as a variety of measures taken by authorities around the world to control the pandemic, affected all aspects of our lives. Like what happened in other countries, Maltese authorities introduced a number of restrictions on travel that affected the modus operandi of OCGs when trafficking contraband and other illegal items.’

Several trade routes used by suppliers to smuggle drugs into Malta were identified by a separate government study. Heroin of Afghan origin is imported through Turkey, North Africa or Western European countries whereas cocaine is smuggled mostly through Spain. MDMA, ecstasy and amphetamine, among other synthetic drugs, are imported from other European countries particularly Italy and the Netherlands. The MSS said that a number of routes and methods exist for drug importation and to bring in contraband.

‘Since the drug market was sometimes use legal markets to hide products, with the pandemic measures, some routes became problematic for these OCGs to import products into Malta. This is why they had to adapt to the new reality by using other methods’ it was revealed.

Restrictions imposed by local authorities on where importers order their product also cause supply problems. Despite drugs being available, stricter measures meant drug suppliers could not export their products as they normally did.

Local narcotics expert Dr Godwin Sammut reported there was a major decrease in drug seizures at the start of the pandemic, even though there was no change in the purity of drugs tested in his lab over the span of the pandemic. Since there were no parties and airports closed, imported supplies and seizures almost stopped completely. According to the International Journal of Drug Policy, a study using 250 self-reporting submissions on illicit drug transactions found that the pandemic disrupted the illicit drug market. This tracked the date of the purchase and whether the drug successfully shipped to its intended location.

#MaltaDaily

Around 18,000 COVID vaccine jabs given to kids aged 5 to 11

Feb 1 2022

5,069 children aged 5 to 11 have received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to statistics tabled in parliament.

This was revealed by Health Minister Chris Fearne who said that as of 26th January, 17,953 doses of the jab had been administered to children aged between 5 to 11.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorised the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids back in November, with the rollout to this age group beginning on the 14th of December 2021 in Malta.

The health minister also revealed that as of the 26th of January, 164,548 doses of the vaccine had been administered to people aged between 16 and 29. Of these, 81,029 were second doses.

Moreover, 46,082 persons in this cohort had received the booster dose. As of today, 1,210,946 doses were administered, of which 329,806 being booster shots. Fearne was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Ivan Bartolo.

#MaltaDaily