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New Commissioner for Children within a month Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri said yesterday that a new commissioner would be appointed and be in office within a month. Mrs Camilleriâs three-year term ended on 15 December, and she had already informed the Office of the Prime Minister and the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry that she did not wish to be re-appointed, saying there were shortcomings in the law which hindered her in her work. Speaking during her last official news conference and launching the annual report, Mrs Camilleri said she did not have any more information about the appointment, and she was waiting for more news like everyone else. The commissioner explained that this yearâs theme â âChildren are Now!â â was closely linked to last yearâs message, âChildren canât waitâ. âWe are not doing them justice when we call children âcitizens of tomorrowâ, âthe Church of tomorrowâ, or âthe future of our countryâ, because their value is in what they are today,â said Mrs Camilleri. She pointed out that childrenâs agendas were dealt with at an adultâs pace and that phrases like âservices will soon be in placeâ, âchildren are not on the agendaâ, or âin the pipelineâ or that âwe are working on it,â are simply a way of hiding behind the language. According to Article 44 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Malta ratified in 1990, a report had to be submitted by the state within two years and following that, every five years. However, Mrs Camilleri said that Malta presented the first report in 2006 â 10 years late. The recommendations that Malta has to send to the UN are compiled and sent in by the ministry concerned â in this case, the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry. She asked why the foster act was taking so long to become law and why âan act which regulates those who tamper with life at its very early stagesâ does not yet exist. The commissioner also asked why a suggestion made by the Council for Children was not taken up. The council had suggested updating the laws, making it obligatory for all those who wished to work with children to show whether they had a criminal record. Another issue she brought up was that the police still did not enforce decisions taken by the law courts about access and maintenance arrangements, even when the necessary reports would have been made. Children needed to be placed at the top of everyoneâs priorities and âsee that their issues are dealt with immediately,â she added. The five main projects commissioned last year were on quality childrenâs programming, children with very challenging behaviour, childrenâs right to play, a childrenâs rights course for young people and childrenâs rights education for the very young. Extensive research gathered from these projects was presented to the government and the recommendations and results needed to be implemented, she said. Mrs Camilleri said that unfortunately, a large number of cases were still referred by parents and not by the children themselves. The commission received a total of 155 new complaints last year. Of these, 80 were made by family members, 72 by adults and three by children. The majority of these complaints were of an educational nature (48) or dealt with family and separation issues (48). However Mrs Camilleri said there was still a need for more information about the duty of the Commissioner for Childrenâs office. âWe still receive many phone calls requesting help and services that have nothing to do with our office, and refer them to the correct departments,â she said.
by Juan Ameen