Malta has a Human Rights Directorate. It was originally conceived by the Joseph Muscat administration and pioneered by Silvan Agius, a previous full-time lobbyist on an EU level for the European gay community. Back then, Silvan’s main focus was to come up with legislation on genderless marriage legislation (indirectly introducing gay marriage) and to set up welfare and educational structures that would help integrate immigrants into the community such as by introducing language and social education and providing professional assistance with refugee’s applications for asylum. Silvan and the Directorate also worked on (back then) controversial legislation on anti-discrimination and equality with regard to employment.
Nowadays, the Human Rights Directorate is basically the same as Silvan left it and hasn’t initiated any new legislative proposals or drafts under Robert’s administration. Robert rewarded Rebecca Butti?ie?, the young parliamentary secretary who got elected by the gender elective mechanism. She is also the preferred candidate for Robert Abela to dislodge one of the Party’s rebels, Conrad Borg Manche, from his district. Personally, Rebecca Butti?ie? is pro-choice, yet this is not the reason why she was placed in her role. Robert Abela never expected he was going to have the abortion issue come up in the political debate, and as a young female candidate, the Labour Party sought to use Rebecca Butti?ie? to parade its “progressive” credentials.
However, politics is not a game as Labour thinks it is. The recent case of a woman who was handed a suspended prison sentence for having an abortion is incredibly damning to the legal regime. To add insult to injury, the woman who was convicted was also a victim of domestic abuse. Robert Abela said that the case made him feel “uncomfortable”. The narcissist has to make every single thing about him. A person has been victimised twice and the Prime Minister is “uncomfortable”, so apparently, we have to make something to reduce his discomfort.
I don’t doubt that Rebecca Butti?ie? would very much like to see the full decriminalisation abortion in all circumstances, but her priorities, as with most Labour MPs today, are more aligned with personal and immediate political interests and these interests are screaming “don’t make the boss unhappy”. Robert is an infantile and paranoid idiot. Genuinely having progressive ideals in the Party may also rile his suspicions that you be one of those “radical extremists” in his eyes that support Chris Fearne.
So, the story is basically this. Those who are engaged on the abortion issue within the Labour Party are mainly progressively-minded on these issues and they asking the Prime Minister, nicely of course, to push for the decriminalisation of abortion to an array of cases wider than what originally has been presented in parliament. Currently, Labour is proposing to allow abortion in extreme circumstances where the woman’s health is in jeopardy. Now, to put it clearly, the director of the HRD is not one of these people lobbying for such change. The current director, Lynn Chircop Faure has been given her post, to, like Rebecca Butti?ie?, to serve as a trophy for Labour’s “progressive” credentials. The department is mostly unchanged since Silvan left.
The pro-choice group within Labour has made its case with Robert and it’s up to him alone to decide what’s going to be done, solely and exclusively. There are great limits to what one can do in the Labour Party with regards to pushing new ideas and proposals and what is mostly discussed is prompted by current events. On the other hand, leadership, concentrated exclusively on one man, is mostly indecisive, uninformed, complacent, alienated, and unconcerned. Robert Abela is amoral and unprincipled and he is only moved by the whims of public opinion. It takes many victims to compel the public onion to change and the media is helping to bring their story to the general public. Maybe, we are getting there. Move over, Robert.
There’s a great deal of empathy that needs to be drilled down into the shallow and criminal mind of the Prime Minister. On the other hand, politicians and government directors also have to instill the concept in their minds that they are not employees. Playing games in politics is playing with people’s lives. I expect Rebecca Butti?ie? and her director at the HRD to act accordingly as serious people. Ordinary citizens are still waiting for them to do their job.
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