Malta’s Green party has added its voice to those calling for ‘femicide’ to be codified as a crime in its own right.
In a press statement on Saturday, the ADPD said that acknowledging femicide would “give visibility to the problem” of misogyny and violence against women.
Femicide is defined as the murder of a woman because of her gender. Women’s rights activists and the Nationalist Party have both said they want the offence listed as a crime within Malta’s criminal code.
On Saturday, a group of women's organisations that together form umbrella organisation Empower said they also backed such calls.
Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has said that making 'femicide' its own offence is not necessary, as homicide already carries the maximum prison sentence allowed – life imprisonment.
Men’s rights activists have argued that, rather than femicide, authorities should consider making ‘gendercide’ – killing a person because of their gender, irrespective of what that is – its own crime.
ADPD deputy secretary-general Sandra Gauci said that the party backed activists leading a rally scheduled to take place on Saturday in protest at the treatment of women in Malta.
The Għajjejt u Xbajt rally begins at 11am outside police headquarters in Floriana.
Anger has built up in recent weeks following the rape and murder of Polish student Paulina Dembska, who was killed in the early hours of January 2.
The police have charged Abner Aquilina with that crime but said they do not believe that the crime was motivated by Dembska’s gender. A police witness told a court on Friday that Aquilina had initially attacked two men before following Dembska.
Speaking on Saturday, Gauci argued that adding femicide to Malta’s criminal code would be an important step, irrespective of the punishment meted out for homicide.
“Justice Minister Zammit Louis should realise that words are important, that that specific types of crimes are recognised at law gives a message that there is a problem. We are not invisible. We are half the population,” she said.
Gauci added: ”every day somewhere in this country, a woman must go through her normal errands in life, or go to her home, with the feeling of being under imminent danger: a danger which can happen at any time. The perpetrator could be anyone: from someone close to us to a stranger.
“This constant living on alert has become something which many women have become used to. Couple this with reports of harassment or violence not being taken seriously or the victim being passed off as a liar and you have the perfect recipe for despair.”