From Neil Falzon, director, Aditus
Neil Falzon and I have agreed to disagree in a civilised fashion on this one. Given that the party on Palace Square was stage-managed by Other Forces to serve as a vehicle for the glorification of the prime minister and the Labour Party – and this could have been predicted even by those who hoped it would be an innocent and non-partisan celebration of the Civil Unions law – I would not have allowed myself to be used to bolster the image of somebody who violates human rights while pretending to uphold them. You can’t stand there and applaud for his stance on civil unions the very same man against whom you had to obtain an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights to prevent him violating, in the most obscene manner, the human rights of others. Our attitude to human rights is an indivisible whole: if the prime minister violates the human rights of African immigrants, then he is a human rights violator who should not be applauded by human rights campaigners whatever the circumstances.
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Dear Daphne,
I have just read your post where you refer to my participation in the celebration of the Civil Union Act’s adoption. As Aditus foundation director, I think a number of clarifications ought to be made. Feel free to post this response if you deem appropriate.
I would like to clarify that the entire Aditus foundation team was present during Monday’s activity, as the legal recognition of same sex relationships has always been one of Aditus’s advocacy objectives. Our presence was not merely in celebration of my or our rights, but of the human rights of the entire gay and lesbian community and, in accordance with our understanding that improved human rights enjoyment benefits everyone, of Malta as a nation.
I definitely agree with you that with regard to the human rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants, Malta is extremely far away from reaching a standard that can be described as acceptable by most, if not all, standards. As you know, we are extremely active advocates in this area and incessantly remind the authorities, including the former administration, of their obligations under relevant international, EU and national human rights law.
We have repeatedly and vociferously condemned Malta’s illegal detention policy and called for the establishment of an integration policy that safeguards the rights of all third-country nationals, particularly the most vulnerable. We instituted and won a landmark judgement before the European Court of Human rights (Suso Musa v. Malta), where the Court agreed with our challenge of Malta’s detention regime. We were part of the legal team that successfully challenged and stopped the pushback threat before the European Court of Human Rights.
Yet our celebration of the adoption of the Civil Unions Act in no way distracts us from the serious challenges faced by asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees. Following the push-back threats of last year, we resigned from the LGBTI Consultative Council. We have not rejoined that Council, as the pushback threat was never publicly withdrawn by the Prime Minister.
As we did on Monday 14th April, the whole office was jubilant when we won the Suso case and when the human rights court accepted our request for an injunction against the push-back. All human rights victories are worth celebrating, as they are not only victories for the persons or communities directly affected by them, but also victories for the core values of human dignity and equality. Celebrating these victories gives us the stamina and commitment to fight other, more difficult, battles.
Should you require further information, do not hesitate to visit our website (www.aditus.org.mt) where you may find extensive information on our past and present advocacy activities and projects.
Best regards,
Neil
ADITUS
Accessing Rights
Dr. Neil Falzon,
Director
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Dr Neil Falzon needs to decide what he champions:
1) gay rights?
2) lesbian rights?
3) gay and lesbian rights?
4) asylum seekers?
5) refugees?
6) human rights?
Malta pajjiz tat-tahwid ad nauseum. In-nies sahansitra qed ihawwdu ‘l Alla li halaqhom.
How come you did not list the rights of illicit drug takers?
They are human too.
Why not all of the above?
Dr, Falzon, facli li wiehed imur jiccelebra fil-Pjazza ta’ San Gorg, fil-Belt Valletta, izda pero trid tiddecidi jekk it-tfal li ha trabbu ser ikunx ‘fair’ ghailhom, 10 snin ohra, meta jigi tfajjel zghir, wara is-science class fejn x’aktarx l-ghalliem jibda jispjega kif isiru t-tfal fl-att sesswali bejn mara u ragel.
Dat-tifel ser jistaqsi: Daddy, allura, intom x’taghmlu?
Ma tahsbuhiehx li ser tigi ‘attakk’ ta’ tahwid serju ghat-tfal?
Malta attrezzata biex tikkopera / taghmel tajjeb ghal dat-tahwid psikologiku?
Jinteressawkhom it-tfal?
Jinteressawkhom id-drittijiet tat-tfal?
Qeghdin tippreparaw ghall-konsekwenzi psikologici li jhallu dal-problemi fuq is-socjeta gejjiena ta’ pajjizna?
Qed ticcelebraw biss?
“Following the push-back threats of last year, we resigned from the LGBTI Consultative Council. We have not rejoined that Council, as the pushback threat was never publicly withdrawn by the Prime Minister.”
And yet you party at Palace Square. In celebration of the very same Prime Minister.
Rational sobriety and principles in private, lickspittle foolishness in public. How very Maltese.
This is with whom JM’s Government signed an “important” agreement recently….”important” was used by George Vella….did they know what kind of people they are dealing?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2d_1398645986
Sorry, Dr, Falzon. You are wrong on this one.
This is the same argument that is used to praise Mintoff.
“Tana s-servizzi socjali”
So, should we forget all the violence and the hardships that we went through? I don’t celebrate the man for any good he might have done. The negatives far outweigh the positive.
You can take as many examples as you wish. For example do you praise and respect a father who buys things for his children but then abuses or beats them?
“Following the push-back threats of last year, we resigned from the LGBTI Consultative Council. We have not rejoined that Council, as the pushback threat was never publicly withdrawn by the Prime Minister.”
Yes, Aditus pulled out, but Dr Falzon drafted the law (badly), so maybe best to stop boasting about pulling out of the council. He drafted the law as MGRM’s lawyer, but this is hardly a question of hats, unless hats are substitutes for principles.
Dr Falzon,
I am a great admirer of your work – anyone who champions the rights of the vulnerable particularly when this is done in a hostile environment should be commended.
Your work requires various skills and loads of perseverance. Most of all you need to be able to read people and their intentions.
Nobody would have commented if you held a private party to celebrate. You could have also organised a bigger party. Nobody would have blinked an eye.
The point here, and you more than anyone else will understand this, is that the event in front of the palace was choreographed to gain political mileage. Your participation in the event was a part of that choreography. The intention was to undermine what you stand for.
It was designed to say “Dr Falzon supports the PL track record on civil rights – he’s on our side. If you see him complaining on the immigration issue, u iva irrid kollox dan. L-ewwel tal-gays, issa din?”
The fact is that most Maltese don’t believe in equal rights. However the ‘gay’ issue is easier to digest than the immigration issue. The prime minister knows this. You know this.
Make sure that you don’t allow yourself to be used by a manipulative bunch.
I assume Dr Falzon will therefore be fighting tooth-and-nail for deaf people in Malta to have subtitling on TV and guaranteed access to sign-language, just like the UNCRPD (which Malta has ratified) states?
Or do I have to show him a deaf black gay first?
I visited the website of Aditus, as instructed. And I found a lot of muddled and dangerous thinking.
Aditus seems to view human rights piecemeal. It’s all about the fight against physical harm when society rejects your skin colour, the psychological harm of living with one’s sexual orientation when your society rejects your choice, and other liberal pièces de résistance which, it saddens me to say, can be a distract rather than focus.
It seems to me that there is a human rights which is a prerequisite for everything else. And that is for the individual’s government to live by its own rules.
To challenge those rules is a step up. Aditus challenges the Maltese government on the rules for the detention of illegal immigrants. Good.
But let us take a step back. Is the Maltese government living by its own rules? No it isn’t. It breaks them with impunity.
Because wholesale corruption, colonisation by China, and deceit is a violation of this most basic of human rights.
And it goes unchallenged by Aditus.
This brings me to another point. It’s all “the Maltese this” and “Malta that”. The Maltese are racists. Malta is intolerant.
Is Aditus nothing more than a collection point for sociological data? Surely, the attitudes and behaviour of a society are shaped to a large degree by its government. Very often, by single individuals in government.
Such as Joseph Muscat, when commenting on pushbacks.
Or Joseph Muscat, when he praises China unconditionally.
Aditus appears to be doing the utmost to remain “politically neutral”, in time-honoured Maltese NGO fashion.
It shouldn’t. It cannot. It is governments who make laws. It is governments who implement those laws, or otherwise.
It is political parties who get elected to govern.
If there is any justice in this world, and if the Adituses are right, history will judge Joseph Muscat as duplicitous, evil prime minister who sold his country to China, and freedom of expression and the rule of law along with it.
I don’t see much reason to party at Palace Square.
Dr Falzon , why are the rights of asylum seekers lumped with those of gays, trans and bi?
Does ADITUS also cater for the rights of patients, animals, children, people with special needs, hunters, criminals and their victims and those discriminated against because of their political views?
Astrid Vella comes to mind. Both Astrid and Neil Falzon promote different causes yet both have a similar approach towards our most noble prime minister.
One day they spite Muscat’s’ actions, the next they party together as if nothing wrong ever happened.
Maybe Joseph Muscat is hypnotist of some kind?
Neil Falzon just proved that above all else he is Maltese, and I don’t mean this as a compliment.
“Our presence was not merely in celebration of my or our rights, but of the human rights of the entire gay and lesbian community…”
What human rights is Dr Falzon talking about? Adoption? That’s not a human right. It is a choice, not a right.
Marriage? It is not a human right; it is a choice.
If it were a right, then a man and a woman who live together and refuse to get married, either civilly or religiously, are infringing their own human rights.
“Yet our celebration of the adoption of the Civil Unions Act in no way distracts us from the serious challenges faced by asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees.”
Well, that is what your hero the PM is doing, Dr. Falzon, and with “serious challenges” of asylum seekers you might like to add that he is deviating the nation’s attention from the real problems.
The Chinese Sleeping Dragon is going to hit this island so hard that people will not know what actually hit them.
Dr. Falzon has not YET realised that, for the Labour Party, as long as “asylum seekers” are Chinese and they are ready to pay, then it is OK for them to receive Maltese citizenship.