Independent: Gay man granted asylum in Malta due to persecution in Nigeria

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-24/news/gay-man-granted-asylum-in-malta-due-to-persecution-in-nigeria-3278143490/
Sunday, 24 November 2013, 11:15 , by Jacob Borg



An 18-year-old Nigerian migrant has been granted asylum in Malta due to persecution in his home country over his homosexuality.

Consensual homosexual conduct is punishable by up to 14-years in prison under Nigeria’s federal criminal code.

The man was granted asylum by the Refugee Appeals Board in Malta this month after his initial request had been turned down by the office of the Commissioner for Refugees in April.

Malta Today: It’s solidarity, but not as we know it | Neil Falzon

Malta has often complained of a lack of European solidarity vis-à-vis its own migration issues. But human rights activist Neil Falzon argues that European solidarity has been forthcoming… only not of the sort we had in mind

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/interview/It-s-solidarity-but-not-as-we-know-it-Neil-Falzon-20131021?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-solidarity-but-not-as-we-know-it-neil-falzon
Tuesday 22 October 2013 - 09:00 by Raphael Vassallo


Neil Falzon

These are busy times for Neil Falzon. As an activist with aditus, a human rights NGO, he has been catapulted to the front line of an increasingly acrimonious battle between local politicians, the European Commission (and other relevant international institutions) and a wider Maltese public that is now clearly exasperated by seemingly endless waves of uncontrolled immigration.

The phenomenon itself has also taken a decidedly dramatic turn. Loss of life associated with immigration has now reached alarming and unacceptable levels, with as many as 500 asylum seekers dying within a radius of 100 miles from our shores in the past two weeks alone. Yet the political stalemate at European level appears to have changed little, if at all, as a result.

Malta Today: Civil unions to be equal to marriage in all but name

Equality minister says civil unions bill enters second reading in parliament

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Equality-minister-presents-civil-union-bill-20131014
Monday 14 October 2013 - 09:33 by Jerome Caruana Cilia


L-R: MGRM coordinator Gabi Calleja, LGBT consultative council president Cyrus Engerer, Equality minister Helena Dalli, and aditus chairman Neil Falzon

A bill regulating civil unions for gay couples will enter its second reading in the House of Representatives tonight, equality minister Helena Dalli said.

Flanked by human rights lawyer Neil Falzon, Dalli said the three-page draft law was based on a Danish equivalent.

Malta Today: Gays: ‘Malta still a long way away from providing equal rights and safety’

Forthcoming bill legislating civil unions for same-sex couples would shift Malta into new generation of countries championing equal rights.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Gays-Malta-still-a-long-way-away-from-providing-equal-rights-and-safety-20130516
Friday 17 May 2013 - 08:05


The IDAHO kiss-in in 2011

Malta has a long way to go before it can claim to provide equal rights and a safe environment for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens, gay rights activists said in message marking International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The island ranked on the 35-percentile mark of European countries surveyed by the ILGA-Europe (International Lesbian-Gay Association) based on equality laws and non-discrimination: the map places Malta somewhere in the middle with a score of 35% where the highest, the UK scored 77% and the lowest, 7% was scored by Russia.

Malta Today: Government launches LGBT consultative council

Social dialogue and civil liberties minister Helena Dalli launches consultative council gay rights.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Government-launches-LGBT-consultative-council-20130422
Monday 22 April 2013 - 17:25 by a Staff Reporter


Helena Dalli (centre) alongside Joanne Cassar who dropped proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights against the Maltese government over her preclusion from marrying.

A consultative council has been set up to advise government and prepare legislation on LGBT rights, social dialogue and civil liberties minister Helena Dalli said.

The council, which will be composed of civil society representatives, was created following the tabling of the draft bill amending the civil code in order to grant the right to marriage to transgender persons.

Dalli said that the council will include representatives of LGBT organisations, which she said had the "experience, expertise and access to research on the issue."

Times: Consultative council on LGBT rights to focus on civil unions

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130422/local/consultative-council-on-lgbt-rights-announced.466609
Monday, April 22, 2013, 18:00


A consultative council has been appointed by the government to give recommendations and prepare legislation involving the LGBT community.

Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli said the formation of the council came in the wake of a first reading in Parliament last week of a Bill to amend the Civil Code to enable people who undergo gender re-assignment to marry a person of the opposite gender.

Malta Today: Transgender marriage victory may lead to wider discussion on LGBT rights

Actual legal change proposed by the Labour administration will not have any direct bearing on same-sex couples hoping to one day achieve full marriage equality for themselves.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Transgender-marriage-victory-may-lead-to-wider-discussion-on-LGBT-rights-20130406
Sunday 7 April 2013 - 09:41 by Raphael Vassallo



Joanne Cassar's success in her seven-year legal battle for the right to marry a male partner - being herself a post-op transsexual whose reassigned gender was recognized by the State, at least on paper - represents a rare triumph in the ongoing struggle for full equality in LGBT areas.

But while Cassar's victory was welcomed with enthusiasm among Malta's gay community and beyond, the actual legal change proposed by the incoming administration will not have any direct bearing on same-sex couples hoping to one day achieve full marriage equality for themselves.

Independent: Transsexual to be granted right to marry

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-03/news/transsexual-to-be-granted-right-to-marry-1316716547/
3.4.2013; Update 2


Minister Helena Dalli and Joanne Cassar

Joanne Cassar, a 31-year-old hairdresser who underwent gender reassignment surgery to become a woman, will be granted the right to marry. The announcement was made by Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli in the wake of the out of court settlement reached with Ms Cassar in recent days.

In 2011, Ms Cassar had instituted proceedings against government in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming breach of human rights.

MGRM & aditus: Joint Statement on Joanne Cassar case

3.4.2013 Press Release; 

Gabi Calleja (Malta Gay Rights Movement Coordinator)

Dr. Neil Falzon (aditus foundation Director)

The MGRM and aditus foundation welcome the Maltese Government's decision to drop its objection to Joanne Cassar's claim to the right to marry.

The case of Joanne Cassar versus Malta is currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where she is claiming that when Malta prevented her from marrying her fiancée, her fundamental human rights were violated.

Malta Today: Maltese women still face challenge to enjoy their human rights

Human rights advocates Aditus say transgender and migrant risk becoming socially marginalised without access to integration services.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Maltese-women-still-face-challenge-to-enjoy-their-human-rights-20130306
Thursday 7 March 2013 - 08:00

Women in Malta continue to face a series of challenges effectively limiting their human rights enjoyment, human rights advocacy group Aditus Foundation said in a comment on the annual commemoration of International Women's Day.

Aditus director Neil Falzon said that in 2010, the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged Malta to ensure a comprehensive, national policy targeting stereotypical attitudes that treat women solely as mothers, wives and caregivers, undermining their equal dignity and status in other sectors of civic life.

MGRM: Christmas Drinks

Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM)

Christmas Drinks

Come Celebrate this year's achievements with

 

MGRM, WE ARE, aditus, DRACHMA, DRACHMA Parents, LGBT Labour @ Tom Bar this Sunday 23rd December from 17:30 till 21:00.

 

 

Season's Greetings

 

 

Thank you for your support throughout this past year.

MGRM

Malta Today: Nationalist MP insists ‘gay couples are a family’

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder says gay couples are a family contradicting Minister Chris Said but cohabitation bill is a step in the right direction.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Nationalist-MP-insists-gay-couples-are-a-family-20120915
Sunday 16 September 2012 - 15:00 by  Miriam Dalli

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder, the first openly gay MP elected to Parliament, has insisted that gay couples are a family just like any other heterosexual married couple.

The 33-year-old MP from St Julian's however expressed his satisfaction with the fact that a draft cohabitation bill had finally been published. "The bill has been in the making for a long time and it's been quite a while that we have realised that regulating cohabitation was needed," Gouder said.

Sunday Circle: Guest Blog Missing the Wood for the Trees

http://www.sundaycircle.com/2012/09/guest-blog-missing-the-wood-for-the-trees/
Sundaycircle.com regularly opens its blog to a variety of colourful, opinionated and witty individuals from various walks of life...

Dr Neil Falzon, is a human rights lawyer, and former head of the Malta branches of the UNHCR and Amnesty International. Today, he is the Director of aditus foundation, an NGO dedicated to the rights of minority groups.

For more information about aditus, visit their website here.

Last week the Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act was published by the Ministry for Justice, Dialogue and the Family, as a document for public consultation. For the one-month period between 28 August and 30 September everyone, including you, is invited to contribute to the national discussion by commenting on this Cohabitation Bill.

The Bill is pretty straightforward. Nineteen articles in nine pages essentially saying that two unmarried persons living together as a couple will be able to register their relationship in a regime called ‘civil cohabitation partnership’.

Upon registration the couple will be required to regulate personal matters such as maintenance, properties and children, all in a manner enforceable in court by either person in the relationship. Persons in unregistered relationships can also benefit from the Bill’s regime, if existence of their relationship is eventually established in court.

Importantly, the Cohabitation Bill proposes to resolve issues such as hospital visits, medical decisions and bereavement leave by granting the status of ‘next of kin’ to persons in a civil cohabitation partnership. Persons in relationships with non-European Union nationals will be pleased to know that, through a Foreign Affairs Ministry policy, a civil cohabitation partnership will result in the right of entry, stay and employment in Malta.

Yet despite what sounds like an innovative and groundbreaking law, hailed as a first step towards the legal recognition of same-sex couples as valid families, our criticism of the Bill has been an unequivocally harsh one. In our view, the Bill offers same-sex couples very little more than the crumbs granted under today’s legal regime.

YouTube: Il-liġi li pprezenta l-gvern dwar il-koabitazzjoni hija falliment [Aditus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ycyYD7CD_c&feature=youtube_gdata_player


L-Ghaqda Aditus, li tagixxi dwar kwistjonijiet fejn jidhlu d-drittijiet umani, tiddeskrivi l-abbozz ta' ligi li pprezenta l-gvern dwar il-koabitazzjoni bhala falliment.Id-direttur tal-organizzazzjoni Dr Neil Falzon jghid li b'din il-ligi, pajjizna se jkun tilef l-opportunita' li juri huwa favur l-ugwaljanza u kontra d-diskriminazzjoni.

[One News, Partit Laburista.]

Malta Today: Human rights NGO in scathing attack against cohabitation bill

Justice Minister’s cohabitation bill described by human rights NGO aditus as ‘a regrettable failure’. 
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Human-rights-NGO-in-scathing-attack-against-cohabitation-bill-20120828
Tuesday 28 August 2012 - 19:14,  Miriam Dalli 

'The draft bill has reduced same-sex relationships to quasi-commercial transactions between two persons' - aditus foundation

Human rights NGO aditus has come out strong against the newly launched cohabitation draft bill, describing it as a "regrettable failure based on a zero-starting point".

Malta Star: Aditus: “co-habitation bill is zero-starting point”

http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20120828-aditus-co-habitation-bill-is-zero-staring-point

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2012, 20:56

NGO on human rights aditus said on Tuesday that the co-habitation bill proposed by government “although being offered as a tool to recognise same-sex relationships, effectively does nothing to alter the present barren legal scenario.”

iNews Malta: Aġġornat: "Liġi falliment" – aditus

http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20120828-ftit-wisq-gabi-calleja
19:24 | 28.08.2012

"Wara xhur ta' laqgħat mal-Gvern li matulhom kienu diskussi diversi forom għall-għaqda legali bejn koppji tal-istess sess, il-fondazzjoni aditus tista' tiddeskrivi l-liġi ppreżentata llum dwar il-koabitazzjoni bħala falliment. Għalkemm kienet preżentata bħala għodda biex ikunu rikonoxxuti żwiġijiet tal-istess sess, din il-liġi ma tagħmel xejn biex tneħħi l-vojt li hemm fis-sistema legali ta' pajjiżna." Il-fondazzjoni aditus qalet dan permezz ta' stqarrija.