Group A - Gender Based Violence
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Violence against women and specifically gender based violence is an extensive Human Rights Abuse that we can no longer afford to overlook; 42,000 women across 28 member states of the European Union were asked about their experiences of physical, sexual and psychological violence, including incidence of intimate partner violence.
What emerges is a picture of extensive abuse that affects many women’s lives but is systematically under reported to authorities (a) in fear of not being believed and (b) in fear of not finding the help after reporting incidents of abuse; there is still a lack of awareness. Only 14% of women reported their most serious incident of intimate partner violence to the police...
It is important to keep in mind that the vast majority of cases, violence is perpetrated by men on women. It is all about ‘Power & Control’. Perpetrators use a variety of forms of intimidation and manipulation to prevent the women affected from reporting, gaining support, prosecuting and seeking help; for example, the perpetrator might tell her that she is an unfit mother, that she is crazy, paranoid and that no-body will believe her and should she choose to leave, she will lose everything.
Breaking the silence on domestic violence presupposes that we rethink and challenge the meaning of old structures, distinctions and ideas which have contributed to shielding domestic violence from public attention – the family as a sacred unit, the private, the public, power and gender. We can never let reference to traditions, culture or histories legitimize violence against women.
Group B - Descrimination Based on Race
International Law:
Crimes of racial hatred as a limitation or restriction to freedomof expression are referred to in Article 4 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - which Convention has been adhered to by Malta - when it provides that:
"State parties condemn all propaganda and all organizations which are based on ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form,
and undertake to adopt immediate and positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination and, to this end, ....... shall declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin,
and also the provision of any assistance to racist activities, including the financing thereof..............".
The international community views with great alarm activities based on racial hatred so much so that the United Nations requires Member States to outlaw such conduct. There is also no doubt that such laws do impinge on freedom of expression
