Yet another femicide

Last Monday, Malta woke up with the news of another femicide: A 48-year-old Maltese woman was found murdered in her flat in Birkirkara. The police said she was killed by a 50-year-old Irishman who later was killed by the police when he was resisting arrest and brandishing a gun replica.

Later the Police Commissioner said that in the past the man and the victim had been in a relationship but it had ended some time ago. The victim had reported threats on 22 April and had been invited to undergo a risk assessment with Appoġġ, but she refused telling the police that the incident had ‘only involved insults.’ Two other reports about emails and messages received from the murderer had been filed by the victim that month.

Femicide is not something that is a Maltese trait. It is defined as the killing of women and girls because of their gender and can happen as a result of intimate partner violence as well as in the form of the torture and misogynist slaying of women. It also includes killing of women and girls in the name of ‘honour’, targeting females during an armed conflict, dowry-related issues, female infanticide, and accusations of witchcraft amongst others.

According to Wikipedia, the country where most femicides occur is Japan – but that is another culture and another story.

The general reaction in Malta to last Monday’s femicide was one of shock. Many feel that we have been seeing too many women being killed in circumstances that indicate they were killed because they were women; and that moreover, nothing is really being done about it. The concept of femicide was introduced in Malta’s Criminal Code in 2022. It did not introduce the crime of femicide but provided for this motivation of the crime of homicide, whereby, in such cases, the judge ought to consider the highest form of punishment: life imprisonment. The law also made the argument of ‘crime of passion’ as a defence redundant and unacceptable in such cases. Many feel that this change in the law has not served as a deterrent and what is needed is more serious and urgent preventive steps taken before it is too late.

Emphasising that the work of the police is never easy, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said the police went through a difficult night and thanked them for the work they carried out. “They too experienced these difficult circumstances, and we will ensure that they also receive all the necessary assistance,” he added.

People do not doubt that the police carried out their duty after the murder – when it was too late – but many people in Malta are angry because they think that the preventive action that police take when they have reports of sexual harassment, as well as of domestic and gender-based violence is not enough, and more importantly too slow.

In this case a report made four days before the murder was still being processed when the crime occurred. It is not just the police that prove inadequate – it is the whole system. Appoġġ could even take long writing risk assessment reports that are concluded when it is too late. The procedure initiated after a report is made often prolongs the time taken by the authorities to decide what action is needed.

On the other hand, many potential victims do not realise the gravity of the situation they find themselves in and unwittingly tend to underestimate the danger could be in.

While the police and Appoġġ should tackle cases of harassment of women with more urgency, the underestimation of danger by the victims themselves is also a problem as it tends to dampen the vigilance and urgency with which the authorities react.

The umbrella wars

The promised reform on the issue of private umbrella and deckchair entrepreneurs using public space seems to have already become an ‘accepted’ broken promise.

The case of Comino is the one that irks environmentalists the most, but all other beaches where deck chairs and umbrellas are hired by private individuals are publicly owned areas and the state is obliged to allocate use of its beaches and receive money for this privilege.

This not just a Maltese problem.

In Italy, the government has failed to resolve a dispute with the EU about opening up the business of Italian ‘balneari’ to outside competition.

Lucrative licences to rent out deck chairs and beach umbrellas, and manage beach bars and restaurants are traditionally family-controlled monopolies in Italy and they are even passed down from one generation to another.

The EU had ordered Italy to put its 28,000 beach licences up for public tender in 2006, but successive Italian governments have dragged their feet, despite pressure from Brussels.

The issue has come back to the forefront after beach concessions that expired at the end of 2023 are to bet reassigned through public tenders by the end of this year. The licences are officially granted by the state, but rarely come up for public bidding.

Last Friday, Italy’s beach managers decided to protest against exposing their business to possible rival competitors by ‘opening’ two hours later than normal and keeping their umbrellas shut during the morning sun.

The issue could prove embarrassing for Italian PM Giorgia Meloni whose right-wing coalition has sided with the operators of beach facilities, arguing that opening up the sector to wider competition might push up prices and trample local traditions. This is vote- attracting political nonsense.

Beach club managers have urged Meloni to unveil the national criteria for tenders and economic compensation before the mid-August summer break, but the government said it needed more time as talks with Brussels were continuing.

Successive Italian governments have failed to liberalise the sector over the years, despite rulings from Italy’s top administrative court and warnings from Brussels that Italy is risking fines over non-compliance with EU rules.

This sort of dispute could easily become an issue in Malta, unless the government itself – or through MTA – steps in to regulate this business properly and make it subject to bids from competing entrepreneurs.