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_______________________________ Raymond Scicluna Skrivan tal-Kamra cover still to do Annual Report 2015 Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children The Office of the Commissioner for Children was set up in terms of the Commissioner for Children Act of 2003, to promote the welfare of children and the compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as ratified by Malta, and such other international treaties, conventions or agreements relating to children as are or may be ratified or otherwise acceded to by Malta.
© Copyright 2016, Office of the Commissioner for Children Published by the Office of the Commissioner for Children 16/18, Tower Promenade, St. Luċija, SLC 1019, Malta.

Tel: +356 21 485180 Email: cfc@gov.mt Websites: www.tfal.org.mt and www.żgħażagħ.org.mt Design & Printing: InPrintMalta - +356 770 1600 Contents Message from the Commissioner The Oﬃ ce of the Commissioner for Children - Background and Introducti on Roots and beginnings Progress Annual Report 2015 5 7 7 7 7 8 1.
Children’s Rights - General Implanti ng children’s rights in children’s minds Social well-being Investi ng in children Joining forces in favour of children Acti ve childhood Advocacy for children by children The right to life 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 European Parliament a forum for children’s rights 11 Growing in democracy Children on the move 11 Raising awareness about the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children 12 12 13 General considerati ons Individual cases 2.
Children’s Right to an Upbringing Promoti ng a healthy family environment Conti nuous upbringing Understanding successful foster care General considerati ons 3.

Children’s Right to Educati on Big book for small children Getti ng to school from home, getti ng home from school Rewarding eﬀ ort and excellence in schools Childhood change General considerati ons 4.
Children’s Right to Health Promoti ng and protecti ng the health of newborn children Orienti ng children who enter clinical setti ngs Supporti ng children in families disrupted by illness Identi fying and scoping nati onal health prioriti es Preventi ng and managing diabetes in children Donati on of organs by children 15 15 15 15 15 17 17 17 18 18 19 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 Road safety for children General considerati ons 5.
Children’s Right to Play, Leisure and Creati vity Practi sing ring sports safely Enforcing protecti on of children using indoor play faciliti es An acti ve summer for children Towards a child-friendly nightlife The world in pictures Rewarding young creati vity Theatrical impersonati ons by children General considerati ons 6.
Children’s Right to Safe and Beneﬁ cial Media Insti lling safe internet use in children and those who care for them Internet safety a global eﬀ ort The myriad consequences of misusing the internet Reﬂ ecti ng sexti ng Sensiti ve reporti ng about children in the media General considerati ons 7.
Children’s Right to the Promoti on and Protecti on of their Dignity A day and a hand against child sexual abuse No to violence Child abuse an ever present risk Stopping child abducti on Reaching out to children who have witnessed a horrifi c accident Reﬂ ecti ng on child protecti on Protecti ng children in detenti on Age of sexual consent Helping children escape the cycle of poverty General considerati ons 8.
Children’s Right to Child-Friendly Justi ce Creati ng child-friendly environments in police setti ngs Helping juvenile oﬀ enders and their victi ms Helping incarcerated children across systems Access to justi ce for children Doing justi ce to juvenile justi ce General considerati ons Conclusion The Future Message from the Commissioner for Children Ms Pauline Miceli It is more than fi tti ng for me to start my first written message as Commissioner for Children by paying homage to my predecessor, Ms Helen D’Amato, for the sterling work she carried out for the good of all children in Malta during her tenure of this important offi ce.
The acti vity that is reported in the following pages is enti rely hers.

Nevertheless, working on this report has enabled me to bett er take stock of what has been done so far and thus to clarify my vision as to what needs to be built upon, and where this Offi ce, in collaborati on with other stakeholders, needs to start building.

This vision is sketched out in the general considerati ons that conclude each chapter.
I see the ulti mate aim of my work as Commissioner for Children as being quite simply to embolden legislators, authoriti es and civil society, including children themselves, to think and do more and bett er to create the right conditi ons for the well-being of children, in the deepest and widest sense of the term.

While it is true that a majority of children in Malta experience high levels of well-being, we must not be complacent.
The fortunate majority of children are facing new and complex challenges in the form of reduced opportuniti es to spend time with their parents, and the benefits and dangers of the internet, to name but a few.

At the same ti me, we must never forget there is a minority of children whose lives lack some of the most basic ingredients of well-being, such as stable and loving families, suffi cient income and social acceptance of their cultural identi ti es.
Childhood should be a period of happiness and development for all children.

Working towards this aim is a collecti ve responsibility.

I trust that the work of this Offi ce under my leadership will conti nue reﬂ ecti ng this responsibility very brightly and clearly.
5 Leaving, coming and staying... From left to right: Mr Nicholas Vella Laurenti (Policy Oﬃ cer), Dr Lorna Muscat (Head of Oﬃ ce), Mr Charles Giordano (Driver), Ms Pauline Miceli (New Commissioner for Children), Mrs Helen D’Amato (Outgoing Commissioner for Children), Ms Cynthia Sammut (Teacher), Ms Suzanne Garcia Imbernon (Task Manager) & Mr Glen Gauci (Project Oﬃ cer).
Th e Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children - Background and Introduction Roots and beginnings Happiness and well-being are what all individuals naturally yearn and strive for.

A fair society is one which enables all those who are part of it to att ain such an inner state by creati ng the right conditi ons and opportuniti es for them to sati sfy their enti re hierarchy of needs.
The most basic and powerful tool that a society can use to this end is to think and act through the prism of individual rights, as enshrined in the Universal Declarati on of Human Rights adopted by the United Nati ons in 1948.

In essence, human rights dictate that all individuals ought to be well and happy and that governments must act to facilitate this.

Children have very parti cular needs that set them apart from adults.
In recogniti on of this, in 1989, the United Nati ons created a special charter of children’s rights, called the Conventi on on the Rights of the Child.

The Conventi on is a unique tool for meeti ng the needs of children and allowing them to experience an opti mal degree of happiness and well-being.

Malta not only adopted the Convention by ratifying it, in 1990.

In the year 2003, it also set up an independent structure focused on the actual implementati on of the Conventi on.
As a State Party to the Conventi on, Malta did this by enacti ng a law consti tuti ng the Commissioner for Children, who is advised by a Council for Children1.
Ever since this legislati ve act, successive governments have committ ed an expanding pool of human, fi nancial and material resources to allow this Offi ce to fulfi l its dual functi on of overseeing the implementation of the Convention, by carrying out research and investi gati ons, and facilitati ng the implementati on of the same Conventi on, by recommending changes to laws and policies and providing educati on on children’s rights to children, parents/guardians and society at large.
Progress It is safe to say that the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children now is in a stronger positi on to carry out its functi ons than it was at the outset of its development.

The Offi ce is housed in well-sized premises that are used exclusively by the Offi ce.

The Office’s operations are financed from public funds to the tune of €180,000 per annum, only a small percentage of which covers administrati ve costs.
1 Commissioner for Children Act, 2003 7 The Office has nine full-time posts, including the Commissioner, in its organisati onal structure, albeit two of these have been unfi lled for over two years.

A large part of the Offi ce’s strategic and operati onal capacity lies in the numerous partnerships that it has forged with various nati onal and internati onal governmental and non-governmental organisati ons.

Ms Helen D’Amato served her last year as Commissioner for Children in 2015.
The Council for Children, which was composed of the Chairperson of the Social Aﬀ airs Committ ee, fi ve appointees from the relevant Ministries and six co-opted children, held fi ve meeti ngs in the course of the year.

Annual Report 2015 It is against this broad historical background that the work started, conti nued and accomplished by the Offi ce in 2015 as reported in this publicati on must be read and understood.
The ideological backbone of the Offi ce, that is the rights of children, can be seen clearly in the very structure of the report, which is arti culated according to the specifi c rights of children and their various aspects.

This meaningful structure is fi lled with descripti ve and criti cal content which points to the diffi culty and complexity of the Offi ce’s work for the happiness and well-being of children.
8 1 Children’s Rights - General In all acti ons concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare insti tuti ons, Courts of Law, administrati ve authoriti es or legislati ve bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary considerati on.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 3) Implanti ng children’s rights in children’s minds In an att empt to sow the seeds of child rights in the ferti le minds of children, the Offi ce distributed a number of its educati onal resources to children of diﬀ erent ages through schools on the occasion of World Children’s Day.
Children in Kinder 1 thus received Flash Cards on Children’s Rights; Year 1 students got a copy each of the colouring Book on Children’s Rights, whilst all children in Year 3 and Form 2 were given a simplifi ed version of the United Nati ons Conventi on on the Rights of the Child.

Finally, the illustrated booklet ‘My Rights’ was distributed to children in Years 5 and 6 across all schools in Malta and Gozo.
Acti ve childhood Shelby Aquilina and Christopher James Friggieri were the two parti cipants from Malta in the CATS (Children as Actors in Transforming Society) Conference, which was held in Switzerland.

Accompanied by the Offi ce Task Manager, the two young advisors met with children, young people and adults from all over the world to explore how to create partnerships that can lead to eﬀ ecti ve parti cipati on in all matt ers that aﬀ ect children.
Advocacy for children by children Twenty-one children from as many primary and secondary schools received book prizes in recogniti on of their altruisti c behaviours towards the rights of other children.

This award, known as ‘The prize for children as promoters of children’s rights’ and organised by the Offi ce, helped foster the noti on in the hearts and minds of students and teachers that children’s rights have nothing to do with selfi sh interest but all to do with social and collecti ve well-being.
The right to life The Commissioner for Children, Ms Helen D’Amato, upheld this fundamental right in a paper published on its website and carried by a local daily, in which she arti culated her Offi ce’s positi on on embryo-freezing and aborti on.

About the former, the Commissioner opined that this practi ce endangered the life of the embryo and that it could be justi fi ed only if it was medically necessary to delay the implantati on of the embryo in the woman’s womb.
About the latt er, the Commissioner condemned the practi ce as denying unborn child the right to life and called for the arti cle in the law that prohibits aborti on to be arti culated in terms of this right.

Ms D’Amato discussed her positi ons with the Bioethics Consultati ve Committ ee.
9 Social well-being 200 children from 34 schools gathered over two days at Verdala Palace, courtesy of the President of Malta and her Foundati on for the Well-being of Society, to learn and discuss how and why they should foster healthy relati onships both at home and at school.

The event, which the Offi ce organised to celebrate World Children’s Day in November, was led by professionals from the Directorate for Student Services.

The BeSmartOnline!
The BeSmartOnline!

Team and the Cyber Crime Unit within the Malta Police Force pooled their resources to deliver a special programme about internet safety to educators and other adults who accompanied children to the event.

During the acti vity, the children were also visited upon by a number of insti tuti onal fi gures, namely H.E Ms Coleiro Preca, President of Malta, Dr Michael Farrugia, Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, the Hon.

Dr Deborah Schembri and the Hon.

Mr Robert Cutajar.
Mr Robert Cutajar.

This enabled them to understand the importance of healthy relati onships as the very foundati on of society.

H.E Ms Coleiro Preca, President of Malta, Mrs Helen D’Amato, Commissioner for Children, Hon.

Dr Michael Farrugia, Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, Hon.

Dr Deborah Schembri, Chairperson of the Social Aﬀ airs Committ ee, visiti ng the parti cipants.
Investi ng in children This was the theme of a draft UN resoluti on tabled by the EU in collaborati on with the Lati n American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) and on which the Offi ce suggested some amendments aimed at strengthening the commitment by nati ons to the well-being of children.
10 The Office also contributed to updating the status report on Malta’s implementati on of the European Commission’s recommendati on on the same theme by highlighti ng some relevant aspects of its acti vity during the previous year.
Joining forces in favour of children As a member of Eurochild, a network of organisati ons and individuals working in and across Europe to improve the quality of life of children and young people, the Offi ce parti cipated in the network’s Annual General Meeti ng through its Policy Offi cer, who att ended the event held in Brussels.
The meeti ng underlined the need for closer involvement and parti cipati on by the network’s large membership base in the initi ati ves carried out by the network’s administrati on.
European Parliament a forum for children’s rights The Offi ce met with the Maltese Euro Parliamentarian, Dr Roberta Metsola, to discuss cross-border issues of concern related to children’s rights and to ulti mately inform her work as rapporteur to the European Parliament on a number of peti ti ons made across Europe by or on behalf of children.

Among the issues raised by the Offi ce was the problem of the statelessness of irregular migrant children born at sea on unregistered sea vessels.
Growing in democracy The triannual Rights4U live-in course and the yearly publication and disseminati on of the booklet ‘My Rights’ are examples of the Offi ce’s eﬀ orts to help children and young people understand and embrace democrati c rights and values.

The Offi ce wrote to this eﬀ ect in its feedback towards the compilati on of informati on for the EU Youth Report.
Children on the move In the wake of the sinking in the Mediterranean of a boat carrying hundreds of would-be migrant people of all ages, many of whom died before they could be rescued, the Offi ce insti gated the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC), of which it is a member, to write an open lett er to all Nati onal Governments, the European Union and the Internati onal Community at large calling on them to fulfi l their collecti ve duty to take strong urgent multilateral action towards the creation of safe and legal channels of migrati on which would put an end to mass tragedies like this.
The lett er was also carried in the local press.

The Offi ce parti cipated in the eﬀ ort by ENOC to keep tabs on this evolving issue by joining a Task Force composed of several ENOC members and acti vely researching the situati on of children on the move to and from Malta with a view to compiling a report on the phenomenon.

The individual reports by the members of the Task Force are expected to be consolidated and disseminated across Europe in 2016.
The Offi ce homed in on the issue also in comments to a daily newspaper about the EU’s strategy of destroying smugglers’ boats as a means of 1 1 preventi ng deaths of migrants, among whom are many children, in the Mediterranean.

This strategy, even if it were eﬀ ecti ve, wrote the Offi ce, would not prevent would-be migrants from suﬀ ering and possibly perishing in countries of origin or transit where their lives may be at risk.
The Offi ce thus called for safe and regular channels of migrati on to be opened for all those who need internati onal protecti on.

On a draft resoluti on presented by a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and forwarded for the Office’s advice by a member of the Parliament of Malta, the Offi ce suggested among other things using the less sti gmati sing sub-heading above to refer to this doubly vulnerable group of children.
Raising awareness about the Oﬃ ce of the Commissioner for Children The purpose, consti tuti on, functi ons and compositi on of the Offi ce were showcased in an article penned by the Policy Officer and published in an editi on of ‘Solid’, a quarterly magazine produced by the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity and circulated amongst all public service employees engaged in social solidarity.
Individual cases The Offi ce received a number of complaints and requests for advice in the course of the year.

A large majority of these were issues related to children’s upbringing, that is family or out-of-home care.

(See pie-chart below.)


12 General considerati ons The strength of the Conventi on on the Rights of the Child as an eﬀ ecti ve guarantee of the well-being of children does not lie in its ratification, notwithstanding the fact that this makes a country subject to a periodic monitoring mechanism.

This strength lies rather in the instruments through which the Conventi on is implemented and the rights of children realised.

There are basically three such instruments.


The most fundamental instrument is the law in that it binds all stakeholders, from the weakest to the strongest players in a given country, to respect and uphold the rights of children.

In most cases, however, the law on its own is not suffi cient for the rights of all children to be fulfi lled.

Nati onal policies and strategies are necessary to produce the desired outcomes.
These instruments cannot be wholly eﬀ ecti ve if children are not empowered through educati on to take cognisance and ownership of their rights.

Working towards the rights of children means using all three of these instruments in a dynamic and complementary manner without att aching more or less importance to any one of these tools than to the others.
One should also bear in mind the need to conduct research to highlight the areas in which the three instruments should be employed in order to bring about concrete improvements in the well-being of children.

13 2 Children’s Right to an Upbringing States Parti es shall use their best eﬀ orts to ensure recogniti on of the principle that both parents have common responsibiliti es for the upbringing and development of the child.
Parents or, as the case may be, legal guardians, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child.

The best interests of the child will be their basic concern.

(UN CRC, Arti cle 18) Promoti ng a healthy family environment Children across Malta discussed the overarching theme of a positive environment at home during lessons of PSCD and Art, aft er which they drew their personal visions.
The best three pictures in each of three age-groups were awarded prizes as part of the competi ti on organised jointly by the Commission on Domesti c Violence and the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children with the aim of sensiti sing children to the problem of domesti c violence.

This heightened sensiti vity will be shared with the rest of society through the use of the winning drawings in a nati onal awareness-raising campaign on domesti c violence that is planned for 2016.
Conti nuous upbringing The Commissioner for Children, Ms Helen D’Amato, underlined the importance of conti nuity in the upbringing of a child in the early stages of its development in a positi on paper on the practi ce of surrogacy published on the Offi ce’s website and carried by a local daily.
The Commissioner stressed that the rupture of the bond between the child and its surrogate mother, the formati on of which bond started during gestati on, was potenti ally detrimental to the child even if it occurred soon aft er the birth of the child.

Ms D’Amato thus called for the current ban on surrogacy to be retained in the best interest of the child.
Understanding successful foster care The research team composed of Dr Marian Muscat Azzopardi and Dr Daniela Debono, which the Offi ce set up in 2014 to study how fostered children in Malta benefi t or otherwise from their placements, completed its work.

The study, which includes a number of recommendati ons for improvements in the legal and policy frameworks within which foster care operates, will be published, launched and used as a basis for the Offi ce’s advocacy on foster care in 2016.
General considerati ons The vast majority of children in Malta are fortunate enough to be raised in families that are committed to their (i.e.

the children’s) well-being.

15 Helping families, especially those that are at risk of being unable to cater for their children’s social developmental needs, in a robust, proacti ve and nonjudgmental way is crucial to forestall the need for alternative care arrangements.
For those children who will unfortunately require an alternati ve setti ng for their upbringing, foster or kinship care should be the method of choice.

Sustaining foster families inter alia by helping nurture a harmonious and collaborati ve relati onship with families of origin is essenti al for children to live and mature positi vely in an alternati ve care setti ng.
Underlying all this is the need to insti l in all parents, be they biological or foster parents, a sense that the well-being and development of the children is all that matt ers and that they, the parents, all bear diﬀ erent yet complementary responsibiliti es towards this goal.
16 3 Children’s Right to Educati on States Parti es recognize the right of the child to educati on and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity… (UN CRC, Arti cle 28) Big book for small children The early learning experiences of children in Kindergarten 2 have been enriched by means of a new interacti ve tool in the form of a Big Book which narrates the story of Tamara l-Ħmara (Tamara the Donkey).
This resource, developed thanks to a tripartite collaboration between the Office, the Educati on Offi cer for Early Years, Ms Tania Mangion, and the Insti tute for Art and Design within MCAST, was fi nalised and disseminated to all Kindergarten Schools.

Getti ng to school from home, getti ng home from school Any changes to the system of school hours and school transport should be designed to work primarily in the best interest of children, since educati on is for children, not vice versa.
This was the terse comment by the Offi ce to questi ons from an online newspaper about the White Paper ‘School Opening Hours and Traffi c Congesti on’, which had just been issued by the Ministry for Educati on and Employment.
Aft er studying the White Paper in depth, the Offi ce gave its feedback to the Ministry calling for the issue to be looked at more broadly and holisti cally, 17 taking into account not only the particularly negative effects of traffic congesti on on children travelling to and from school, but also how school hours and transport contribute to making the routi ne of a child on a normal school day opti mally balanced between the child’s preparati on for school, the child’s acti vity in school, and the child’s acti vity out of school.
Rewarding eﬀ ort and excellence in schools The Commissioner accepted numerous invitations to present prizes to students who had stood out for their diligence and achievements in their studies and who therefore were making the best use of their talents and educati onal opportuniti es.
Childhood change To mark the handover of the educati onal resources about sexuality and relati onships, Il-Mixja tal-Ħajja (The Walk of Life) and Il-Vjaġġ mit-Tfulija għaż-Żgħożija (The Journey from Childhood to Adolescence), to the educati on authoriti es for these resources to be used in Personal, Social and Career Development (PSCD) pedagogy, the Commissioner, accompanied by members of staﬀ of the Offi ce, together with the Educati on Offi cers for PSCD presented the fruit of their collaborati on to the Educati on Minister, the Hon.
Evarist Bartolo.

The Commissioner also met with a group of PSCD teachers to present and distribute the resources to them.

Commissioner for Children, Mrs Helen D’Amato presenti ng Hon.

Minister Bartolo with workbooks designed by students of MCAST Art and Design.

18 General considerati ons Educati on is to children what wings are to ﬂ edglings, allowing them to explore physical, mental and social realiti es that lie beyond their family nest.
Just as ﬂ edglings are born with the capacity to ﬂ y, so do children have an innate ability and desire to learn.

This potenti al needs to be nurtured well before the minimum age of compulsory schooling.
Hence, child care, the provision and uptake of which has expanded greatly in recent years, should be seen and practi sed not as a means of allowing parents to be gainfully occupied but mainly as an early educati onal opportunity that is oﬀ ered to children by qualifi ed educators specialised in the pedagogy of early years, and which, together with kindergarten, is integrated into the system and pathway of compulsory schooling.
Likewise, the need to continue learning beyond the maximum age of compulsory schooling is also strongly felt both intrinsically, in terms of personal development, and extrinsically, in view of an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

Extending the educati onal pathway increases the importance of guiding children ever more closely along this pathway.
This requires among other things pedagogical content and methodologies that are tailored as much as possible to the individual needs, talents and abiliti es of children, and stronger synergies between educati onal insti tuti ons and the families in which children develop.

Last but not least, the respect that a child’s family and his or her school should command ought to be reﬂ ected also in how the child is made to travel on a daily basis between these two crucial nodes in his or her developmental process.
19 4 Children’s Right to Health States Parti es recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest att ainable standard of health and to faciliti es for the treatment of illness and rehabilitati on of health.

States Parti es shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 24) Promoti ng and protecti ng the health of newborn children A leaflet explaining the rights and possibilities of mothers of newborn children in respect of breastf eeding practi ces at their place of work and during working hours was produced through a joint eﬀ ort between the Offi ce, Parentcraft Services, the Directorate for Health Promoti on and Disease Preventi on, the Department for Industrial Relati ons, and the Occupati onal Health and Safety Authority.
The leaﬂ et, which complements another leaﬂ et on the rights of pregnant women at the place of work which the Offi ce co-produced and disseminated in 2014, has been distributed to expectant parents and mothers of newborn children through Parentcraft Services within Mater Dei Hospital.
21 Orienti ng children who enter clinical setti ngs The Offi ce, in collaborati on with the Paediatric Practi ce Development Team, finalised the production of three activity books designed to familiarize children admitt ed to diﬀ erent clinical setti ngs, namely the medical and surgical wards within MDH, and the Child Development Assessment Unit (CDAU), with their environment.
The resources were presented and disseminated within each clinical setting, whilst the actual use of the resources by children is being facilitated by teachers and nurses working within the respecti ve setti ng.

To further alleviate the sense of alienati on felt by children who spend ti me in clinical setti ngs, the Commissioner visited children hospitalised at MDH during Easter ti me and Christmas ti me, talking with and giving a gift to each child.
22 Supporti ng children in families disrupted by illness To mitigate the disruption caused to the lives of children by serious illness in the family, the Offi ce supported the Karl Vella Foundation in developing a colouring book, entitled ‘Karlotto’s Story’, to prepare younger children for the support they would likely receive within the Foundation.

This collaboration led to this valuable r e s o u r c e b e i n g l a u n c h e d a n d disseminated in the course of the year.
Identi fying and scoping nati onal health prioriti es In its feedback, the Offi ce homed in on three strategic prioriti es within the draft acti on plan of collaborati on between Malta and the World Health Organisati on, namely obesity, mental health and migrant health.

In each case, the Offi ce recommended paying more att enti on to the needs of children who are directly or indirectly aﬀ ected by these health issues.
Preventi ng and managing diabetes in children It is positi ve that the needs of diabeti c children and of children who are at risk of developing diabetes are comprehensively identi fi ed in the proposal for a Nati onal Diabetes Strategy, wrote the Offi ce in its feedback.
At the same ti me, the Offi ce also stressed on the importance of educati on within schools to avoid the sti gmati sati on of children with diabetes, and on the need for the various initi ati ves that are already happening through independent groups like itself and others to be incorporated in the eventual strategy.
Donation of organs by Children The Office gave its feedback on legislative proposals contained in a White Paper on organ and tissue donation, recommending that children be allowed to register as prospective organ donors at twelve years of age with parental consent and at sixteen years without such consent.

Media reports suggested that the Office’s recommendations had been adopted in the draft law that was eventually drawn up by Government.
Road safety for children In order to instil a sense of road safety in children, all students in Year 2 were given a copy of the activity book on road safety published by the Office, ‘Fit-Triq ma’ Kinu’, as part of the Office’s celebrations of World Children’s Day.

The perspective of children on road safety issues was represented on the Road Safety Council thanks to the Office’s membership of the council.
The 23 latter was set up in the course of the year to advise Government on the way forward on road safety in Malta and is composed of a wide range of stakeholders in the field.

General considerations The health of children is the foundation of their well-being.

Children with precarious health may have difficulty being with their families, attending school, enjoying leisure activities and partaking of many other things that are vital to their well-being and development.
Despite the fundamental importance of health, health systems, including paediatric systems, tend to be geared primarily towards restoring health when children experience physical or mental ailments rather than towards building and maintaining health in children thus helping them ward off disease and enjoying a higher level of health than they can get just through a curati ve approach.
While one should not underesti mate the importance of curati ve health insti tuti ons like hospitals and clinics, which may treat children who fall ill despite leading healthy lifestyles, it is clear that the balance in terms of public investment and presence on the ground needs to be shift ed, slowly but surely, onto the promoti on of health as a public and personal good which it is up to society and its individual members to develop and safeguard.
This paradigm shift can happen only if the promoti on of health is not limited to piecemeal and sporadic interventi ons in the form of talks or campaigns but is embedded within the social and cultural fabric of families, communiti es and schools so that these enable children to take ownership of their health.
24 5 Children’s Right to Play, Leisure and Creati vity States Parti es recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreati onal acti viti es appropriate to the age of the child and to parti cipate freely in cultural life and the arts.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 31) Practi sing ring sports safely A technical committ ee, steered by the Malta Competi ti on and Consumer Aﬀ airs Authority (MCCAA) and composed of the Offi ce and other stakeholders in the fi eld, was very acti ve in the draft ing of a nati onal standard laying down safety requirements for establishments that provide services of training and competi ti on in ring sports, such as boxing and kick-boxing, to minors.
The draft standard, which incorporates physical aspects of safety as well as the accreditati on of instructors, is expected to be fi nalised, put out for public consultati on and offi cially published as a nati onal standard in 2016.

In the meanti me, the need for such a standard, which the Offi ce formally registered in its applicati on to MCCAA in 2013, conti nued to be felt with the Offi ce receiving reports of irresponsible behaviour by organisers of ring sports events for minors.
The Commissioner discussed these reports in a meeti ng with the Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovati on, Youth and Sports, Hon.

Chris Agius.

Enforcing protecti on of children using indoor play faciliti es The Offi ce conti nued in its eﬀ orts to make the Nati onal Standard SM3600, which lays down specifi c safety requirements for indoor play faciliti es, enforceable at law.

The Offi ce was informed that a legal noti ce to this end was in the process of being draft ed.
An acti ve summer for children The Commissioner visited a number of so-called Summer Schools to meet children and staﬀ and show her appreciati on for their eﬀ orts to make the summer months a period of acti ve rest from normal school acti vity.
Towards a child-friendly nightlife In comments published in two newspapers, the Offi ce lamented the fact that the current legislati on regulati ng the admission of minors to places of entertainment was limited to barring the display and sale of alcohol to patrons under the age of seventeen.
The Offi ce called for the alternati ve legislati on it had helped to draft , which addressed other issues of concern, such as the lack of lower and upper age-limits for entry in places of entertainment and ability of prospecti ve party organisers to escape scruti ny as required by law, to be implemented without further delay.

At the same ti me, the minimum drinking age should be set at par with the age of majority, the Offi ce said.
25 The world in pictures Congratulati ons to Svetlana Scott , an 8 year old from Malta, on winning a Bronze Prize for the picture she composed with the name ‘Family Day Out’.

Svetlana was among many children from Malta who submitt ed their drawings through the Offi ce to the IE-NO-HIKARI Associati on in Japan as part of the Annual World Children Picture’s Contest organised by this associati on.
Rewarding young creati vity The Office Task Manager was on the evaluation board that judged arts projects submitt ed by children and young people and arts projects for children submitt ed by communities as part of the President’s Award for Creati vity.
Theatrical impersonati ons by children In the wake of concerns expressed in the press by a theatre-goer about the parti cipati on of children in theatrical productions, the Office had a frank and fruitful exchange with the Artistic Direction of Teatru Manoel regarding the procedures in place to ensure that the roles that underage actors play out on stage, which may feature negati ve language and themes, are within the bounds of their development as persons and actors.
The two enti ti es agreed on the shared duty of the parents and directors of underage actors to judge about this in the best interest of the children concerned.

Mrs Helen D’Amato presenti ng Svetlana Scott with her prize.

General considerati ons When children are not engaged in some family, school or health acti vity, they will spontaneously indulge in playful, leisurely or creati ve acti viti es that allow them to express their imaginati ons.
These acti viti es are as much a diversion from as they are an integral part of their work of developing into well-rounded persons.

Two important corollaries of this is that parents and educators should allocate suffi cient ti me both within and outside the daily routi ne of family and educati onal acti viti es for children to pursue ludic pasti mes which they enjoy.
Furthermore, parents, educators as well as local and nati onal governments need to provide children with adequate faciliti es and organised acti viti es that allow them to play and be creati ve without getti ng hurt.

Apart from the intrinsic value of such opportuniti es, children who are given the ti me, space and means to express themselves are more likely to be smarter, healthier and overall bett er children than those whose lives are more confi ned to strictly family, school or health acti viti es.
26 6 Children’s Right to Safe and Beneﬁ cial Media States Parti es recognize the important functi on performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to informati on and material from a diversity of nati onal and internati onal sources, especially those aimed at the promoti on of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 17) Insti lling safe internet use in children and those who care for them As part of the Offi ce’s celebrati ons for World Children’s Day, the Offi ce’s resources about internet safety were distributed to children in schools as follows: • Children in year 4 each got a Board Game promoti ng the good use of the internet.

• Children in Forms 1, 3 and 4 received an informati on note on internet safety.

As part of the BeSmartOnline!


Project, the Offi ce fi nalised the producti on of a leaﬂ et presenti ng the ‘Golden Rules’ which parents should follow to help their children be safe online.

The leaﬂ et shall be launched and disseminated to parents in early 2016.
27 The need to educate children and parents on safe internet use as opposed to relying merely on age restricti ons in the use of the internet was at the heart of the Offi ce’s comments to a daily newspaper on a new law enacted by the European Parliament requiring parental consent from children under sixteen to use social media.

Internet safety a global eﬀ ort The Commissioner and the Task Manager parti cipated in three internati onal meeti ngs on issues of internet safety.
In the fi rst instance, they travelled to Berlin to parti cipate in the ‘Net Children 2020 Conference’, wherein they discussed the creati on of a roadmap on challenges and soluti ons of digital media educati on and child protecti on in Europe.

In the second meeti ng, they joined a host of other stakeholders in internet safety from across the world to discuss the need to address internet safety within nati onal frameworks.
The meeti ng, held in Rome, was called by the Family Online Safety Insti tute (FOSI).

In the third meeti ng, held in Prague, they met with representati ves of the Safe Internet Centres of various European countries to receive training from the INSAFE network on a variety of internet safety issues.

The Offi ce hosted and parti cipated in a meeti ng about cybercrime between the partners in the BeSmartOnline!
Project and GENVAL, the preparatory body of the Council of the EU that deals with the subject of organised crime.

The myriad consequences of misusing the internet As part of the BeSmartOnline!

Project, the Offi ce helped in the organisati on of a conference for professionals working with children, particularly educators, social workers and mental health professionals, which addressed the excessive use of the internet and the complex interplay between self harm, eati ng disorders and the worldwide web.
Reﬂ ecti ng sexti ng Young members of the Council for Children and children from the Drama Centre joined forces with the Offi ce to raise awareness among young people about the risks of sexti ng by producing a short video about this practi ce.

This eﬀ ort was made in the context of the ‘Let’s Talk Young’ project coordinated by the European Network of Young Advisors (ENYA).
The video was uploaded on an online distributi on platf orm for audio-visual content along with the videos produced in nine other countries on the same subject.

It will be launched and disseminated at a nati onal level in 2016.

Sensiti ve reporti ng about children in the media The Offi ce used the media to remind all media outlets and operators about the need to show discreti on and sensiti vity when reporti ng on the distressing life events of parti cularly vulnerable children.
The danger of insensiti ve media 28 reporti ng, such as when the personal details of the children concerned are published, is that children may relive a trauma from just reading or hearing about it in the media and experience hurt rather than healing in the process.
This appeal was also made in the context of the terrible accident that occurred during the fund-raising event Paqpaqli għall-Istrina (see Chapter 7), in the aft ermath of which visual material relati ng to the moments preceding and those following the accident was rife on many media outlets.

General considerati ons The relati onship of children with the media is qualitati vely more complex than is their relati onship with any other external reality, such as the educati on system or the leisure scene.
While these realiti es are but extensions of children’s private selves, the media inevitably exposes and projects children into the public domain.

Learning how to act and react in the vast space of the public domain is a key stage in the psycho-social development of children.

By being involved through the media in issues that are of public interest, children can learn how to be good and acti ve neti zens of the communiti es in which they live.
But while the traditi onal media, epitomized by the TV medium, engage users, including children, in a mostly passive relati onship as viewers, modern-day media, notably the internet, places children in a much more acti ve role.

This is so because internet users can navigate through the worldwide web with much more freedom of movement and choice than the circumscribed content and connecti vity of television and radio can aﬀ ord.
Furthermore, the extraordinary popularity of internet-powered social media has meant that every person, not only those who are famous or hold public offi ce, can construct and project a public persona.

While all this offers young netizens infinitely more opportunities for enhancing their well-being and development, it also exposes them to myriad new dangers.
This highlights the need for systemati c educati on of children in the judicious use of the internet and for legal and technological safeguards against children’s exposure to various cyber-threats.
29 7 Children’s Right to the Promoti on and Protecti on of their Dignity States Parti es shall take all appropriate legislati ve, administrati ve, social and educati onal measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitati on, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 19) A day and a hand against child sexual abuse The Offi ce reacted with enthusiasm to the proposal by the Council of Europe to start celebrati ng ‘The European Day on the Fight against Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitati on of Children’ on 18 November, arguing that this would help channel eﬀ orts and att enti on on such an important theme during a ti me of the year when children’s rights would already be present in the public domain through the celebrati on of World Children’s Day.
In a bid to help kids recognise and stop sexual abuse from a very young age, all children in Kinder 2 received a copy of Kiko and the Hand as part of the Offi ce’s celebrati ons of World Children’s Day.

This is a publicati on issued by the Council of Europe which the Offi ce translated into the vernacular some years ago for the benefi t of children who are predominantly Maltese- speaking.
Kiko u l-Id was also menti oned by the Offi ce in the informati on it submitt ed in response to a questi onnaire sent by the Council of Europe about Malta’s status viz-à-vis the the CoE Conventi on on Protecti on of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, better known as the Lanzarote Conventi on.
No to violence The right of anybody not to be the victi m of violence in any form or degree was the theme for this year’s Rights 4U Course which wanted to empower young people to put a stop to violence be it directed towards them or the people around them.

A total of 120 young people aged between 13 and 15, spread over three courses, parti cipated in this year’s editi on of this popular live-in course.
The educati onal content of the courses was augmented by presentati ons on internet safety and victi m support delivered respecti vely by offi cials from the BeSmartOnline!

Project and Victi m Support Services to the course parti cipants.

31 Rights 4U benefi ted from the patronage of the HSBC Malta Foundati on and the moral support of the Hon.
Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, Dr Michael Farrugia, and members of the Family and Social Aﬀ airs Parliamentary Committ ees, all of whom visited the youngsters in the course of their live-in experience.
The fi ght against various phenomena of violence against children around the world was the theme of the ENOC Annual Conference, in which the Commissioner, Ms D’Amato, and the Task Manager parti cipated and during which they presented the video on sexting (see Chapter 6, ‘Reflecting Sexti ng’) to their fellow European counterparts.

Visit by Hon.

Dr Michael Farrugia, Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity during one of the Rights 4U Courses.
Child abuse an ever present risk Harm to children, be it voluntary or involuntary, is a much less remote possibility than we may be willing to accept.

Children can be harmed or abused within their own families and within places intended for them to have fun, such as indoor or outdoor play areas.
In its comments published on a weekly newspaper, the Offi ce gave an overview of the various forms of abuse of and harm to children and highlighted the importance of strong preventi ve acti on to spare children unnecessary suﬀ ering.

Stopping child abducti on A case of child abducti on dealt with by the Offi ce threw up some serious concerns about the power of the law to protect children from the threat of abducti on at the hands of a parent.
The Offi ce followed up these concerns with the Malta Police Force and the Offi ce of the Att orney General with a view to draft ing proposals for amendments to the law that would render child abducti on a criminal oﬀ ence in all circumstances.
Reaching out to children who have witnessed a horriﬁ c accident As many as eight children who had witnessed the terrible accident that occurred during the fund-raising event Paqpaqli għall-Istrina were referred 32 by the Offi ce to the Child Guidance Unit for debriefi ng sessions.

The parents of these children had responded to a public call which the Offi ce issued aft er making arrangements with CGU for the setti ng up this one-oﬀ ad hoc service.
Reﬂ ecti ng on child protecti on Members of staﬀ of the Offi ce and other professionals working in the fi eld of child protecti on came together to discuss positi ve and challenging aspects of their work.

The discussion was organised by the President’s Foundati on for the Well-being of Society to mark World Child Protecti on Day.
Protecti ng children in detenti on The Offi ce fed into the reports and recommendati ons of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detenti on and the CoE Sub-Committ ee for the Preventi on of Torture on the situati on of detained children in Malta by meeti ng with each of the two bodies.
As an independent enti ty, the Offi ce gave its account of the grounds, durati on and conditi ons of detenti on of various groups of child detainee, such as children serving a prison sentence, children detained in mental health insti tuti ons as well as children living in insti tuti ons, who while not formally detained, are nevertheless at risk of being deprived of their liberty by an insti tuti onal culture that confi nes them to a life within the residenti al home.
Age of sexual consent In response to a proposal made in Parliament to lower the legal age of consent to sexual relations to sixteen, the Office wrote to the Health Parliamentary Committ ee calling upon the Committ ee to summon a variety of experts in human development and pedagogy to share their knowledge and views about the age at which most children would be emoti onally and morally ready to engage in sexual acti vity within a stable relati onship and about the kind of educati onal support that children need to prepare themselves for and cope with the challenges of such acti vity.
The Committee heeded the Commissioner’s call when, in conjunction with the Social Aﬀ airs and Family Parliamentary Committ ees, it invited the Commissioner for Children among other experts to deliver a presentati on on the subject.
Whilst maintaining that laws and atti tudes should not be permissive of sexual acti vity between adults and minors, the Commissioner advocated more and bett er sex educati on for children and young people and called for consensual sexual acti vity between minors to be decriminalised.

The Office reiterated these recommendations in comments to a daily newspaper.
Helping children escape the cycle of poverty Financial incentives encouraging regular school attendance must be accompanied by practi cal and professional support that renders parents able and willing to send their children to school regularly.

This was in essence the Offi ce’s reacti on, published in a newspaper, to Government’s announcement of a Child Supplement linked to school att endance of children from low- income families.
33 General considerati ons Acti ons or circumstances that oﬀ end the dignity of children are the worst threats to the wellbeing of children in that they invariably result in feelings of low self-esteem and a poor sense of self-worth in children.

This in turn limits their ability to realise their rights and potenti al during childhood and later on in life.
The protecti on of the child’s dignity should thus be a constant and urgent priority for those who are responsible in one way or another for the well-being of children.

The concerns and recommendati ons that were the subject of the Offi ce’s acti vity described in this chapter give but a small glimpse into the challenges that we face as protectors of children.
No ti me must be lost to strengthen that protecti ve net within which and through which children can discover themselves and the world around them without suffering undue and unnecessary harm.

34 8 8.
Children’s Right to Child-Friendly Justi ce States Parti es recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promoti on of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoti ng the child’s reintegrati on and the child’s assuming a constructi ve role in society.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 40, 1) ….the child shall in parti cular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrati ve proceedings aﬀ ecti ng the child, either directly, or through a representati ve or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of nati onal law.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 12) A variety of dispositi ons, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probati on; foster care; educati on and vocati onal training programmes and other alternati ves to insti tuti onal care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proporti onate both to their circumstances and the oﬀ ence.
(UN CRC, Arti cle 40, 4) Creati ng child-friendly environments in police setti ngs On the strength of its preparation of a children’s room within its own premises in 2012, the Offi ce gave fi nancial and knowledge-based support to the Police Force towards the setti ng up of a similar room for the interrogati on of minors within the Force’s main headquarters.

This children’s room, which is expected to be functi onal in 2016, will cater for the needs of diﬀ erent age- groups of children.
Helping juvenile oﬀ enders and their victi ms Although it is a good thing that children below the age of fourteen are no longer held criminally responsible for their oﬀ ences, new structures, services and synergies must be created to support these children and the victi ms of their wrongdoings.
This was in a nutshell the message conveyed by the Offi ce through a daily newspaper in response to questi ons about the case of a girl who had suﬀ ered abuse at the hands of another child who could not be 35 brought to justi ce aft er the age threshold of criminal responsibility had been raised through a legal amendment passed in 2014.
Helping incarcerated children across systems The Offi ce sustained its att empt, initi ated in 2014, to bring the relevant stakeholders round a table to create protocols of collaborati on that would create a conti nuum of care for children who enter and leave the Young Oﬀ enders Unit Rehabilitati on Services (YOURS) within a short span of ti me.
More meeti ngs were in fact held between the Department for Educati onal Services, Corradino Correcti onal Facility, Aġenzija Appoġġ and the Offi ce in the course of the year.

Access to justi ce for children This was the ti tle of a report compiled by the Child Rights Internati onal Network (CRIN), a global research, policy and advocacy organisati on, about how easy it is for children in Malta to access justi ce regarding an alleged violati on of their rights.
The Offi ce helped in reviewing and updati ng this report.
Doing justi ce to juvenile justi ce In an att empt to raise the level of internati onal awareness of juvenile justi ce as a key aspect of the rights and well-being of children, the World Congress on Juvenile Justi ce, held in Geneva and att ended inter alia by the Head of Offi ce, adopted a fi nal declarati on that highlighted the principles of child- friendly justi ce with a special emphasis on the use of restorati ve justi ce in judicial proceedings involving minors.
General considerati ons For children who suﬀ er any sort of serious physical or psychological harm, the right to justi ce is of paramount importance.
For these children, accessing this right means having safe and eﬀ ecti ve channels to report the oﬀ ence suﬀ ered to the justi ce system, being protected from falling victi m to further harm before, during and aft er the conclusion of the judicial process, and benefi tti ng from a setup of health and social services designed to aid their full physical and psychological recovery.
Hence, the justi ce system must in and of itself be therapeuti c for children who have suﬀ ered or are suﬀ ering as a result of some traumati c personal experience.

What the system should not do is to cause children to experience further suﬀ ering as a result of the workings of the system or its misuse by those who seek redress.

The principle of the best interest of the child as the primary concern should be at the heart of all the structures, processes and outcomes of the justi ce system.
This should apply even in respect of those children who cause or are thought to have caused oﬀ ence to others.

The justi ce system should not act puniti vely towards these children but should seek to facilitate their eﬀ ecti ve rehabilitati on so as to steer them away from a life of crime and delinquency.

Adopti ng a restorati ve model of justi ce can be highly conducive to this end.
36 Conclusion The Future Looking ahead from the progress accomplished to date by and through the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children, it is fair to say that the Offi ce can grow further not simply through the mere replenishment or even additi on of resources but also through a qualitati ve improvement in its independence and functi ons.

The independence of the Offi ce, or its status as a disinterested (i.e.
above any vested interest) promoter and guardian of the fundamental rights of children in Malta, would be strengthened if such status were enshrined in the Consti tuti on, and if the Offi ce were endowed with a legal personality of its own.
The functi ons of the Offi ce, or its eﬀ ecti veness as a promoter and guardian of the rights of children, would be enhanced if the Conventi on on the Rights of the Child and its opti onal protocols were to become part of nati onal law; the Commissioner for Children given the faculty to represent the best interest of children in nati onal law courts; and the Offi ce empowered to act as a supporti ng structure for children who may need to communicate with the Committ ee on the Rights of the Child, the ulti mate guarantor of children’s rights, as per the Third Opti onal Protocol to the Conventi on, which Malta is yet to rati fy.
Forti fying the independence and functi ons of the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Children ulti mately means equipping our nati on with a more eﬀ ecti ve tool to enable all children in Malta to att ain happiness and well-being.

37 16/18, Tower Promenade, St. Luċija SLC 1019, Malta Tel: 21 485 180 E-mail: cfc@gov.mt Website: www.tf al.org.mt