A bill which will add femicide as an aggravating offence to the Criminal Code has passed all stages of parliament, with unanimous approval at Third Reading stage. 

President George Vella is now required to sign the bill for it to become law after parliament approved it on Monday afternoon. The bill was amended during committee stage to clarify that the perpetrator could be anyone, whether male, female or otherwise. 

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard put forward an amendment after several Nationalist MPs brought up the issue during the second reading. 

For a homicide to be considered as femicide in court, the victim must be a woman and must have been killed because she was a woman. Domestic violence, honour killings, religious practices such as genital mutilation, sexual abuse and misogynistic intentions all fall under the law. 

The bill was put forth following the murder of Paulina Dembska earlier this year by Abner Aquilina. The murder prompted many women’s rights activists to push for femicide to become a law. 

#MaltaDaily