Anti-divorce movement denies targeting teachers to join their campaign

Updated at 4:30pm with statement by Zwieg Bla Divorzju

The anti-divorce movement Zwieg Bla Divorzju has denied it had circulated e-mails to employees at school, after the Malta Union of Teachers said it was concerned over claims by teachers receiving emails from school administrators asking them to support the anti-divorce campaign.

According to the email copied in the MUT’s statement, the wife of anti-divorce movement figurehead Andre Camilleri, former children’s commissioner Sonia Camilleri, had asked administrators to petition teachers to support their cause.

The movement said the e-mail was circulated by people who had asked the movement how they could support it and were told to forward their email addresses to the movement’s address.

The email reported by MUT was sent by school administrators asking teachers to send the Zwieg bla divorzju movement their contact details. “We have been asked by Mrs Sonia Camilleri wife of Andre Camilleri, who is leading the anti-divorce campaign in Malta to help them out by sending them an e-mail confirming that you are against divorce in Malta giving your names and also if possible your mobile nos. This is to have our e-mails addresses in their register so should they want to send out any information, updates etc. they can do so” – the email reads.

According to the MUT, reports of such incidents were received from a small number of Church Schools and from some MCAST institutes. The union it would inquire as to whether a breach of data protection had taken place.

“The MUT believes that these issues are totally unrelated to work and such emails constitute an abuse of power,” the union said.

The union also instructed members to refrain from replying to the emails and to notify the MUT if such practices are going on in their school. “If members want to support any movement unrelated to the workplace they may do so on their own private initiative.”

Zwieg bla divorzju said it agreed with the MUT that such issues were totally unrelated to work, and that any employees wishing to support any movement unrelated to the workplace should do so on their own private initiative.

Camilleri is a former Commissioner for children, the first ever to be appointed, and has in the past expressed herself against in vitro fertilisation in representations to the social affairs parliamentary committee.

Alternattiva Demokratika, the  green party, has also called on the Data Protection Commissioner should investigate the No movement’s “email propaganda”.

In its statement, AD said the Commissioner should investigate how the movement had obtained email addresses of teachers and subsequently sent them propaganda emails to oppose divorce. "AD demands and expects a level playing field in the public debate on the introduction of divorce in Malta. There are various indications that this is not the case, and the email sent to urge teachers to oppose the introduction of divorce is a case in point."

AD chairperson Michael Briguglio added that Malta's data protection laws “are already a farce”, given that the Nationalist and Labour parties are permitted to obtain personal and private data of citizens for their own use. "It seems that certain movements are now being allowed to enjoy the anti-democratic privileges on the PL-PN duopoly."