Femicide Bill approved unanimously in parliament

A Bill that adds femicide as an aggravating offence to the Criminal Code has cleared all stages of parliament after unanimous approval at Third Reading stage.

Parliament approved the Bill on Monday afternoon, which now requires President George Vella's signature to become law.

The Bill was amended during committee stage to clarify that the perpetrator can be any person, whether male, female or otherwise.

This issue was brought up by several Nationalist MPs during the Bill’s Second Reading in parliament, prompting Justice Minister Jonathan Attard to put forward an amendment, taking on board the suggestion.

However, for a homicide to be considered a femicide in court, the victim must be a woman and must have been killed because she was a woman. This will include domestic violence, honour killings, misogynistic intentions, religious practices such as genital mutilation and sexual abuse.

The Justice Minister told MaltaToday he was pleased that the Bill is the first to be approved in this legislature. "We are pleased that the femicide Bill is the first of this legislature that passed through all stages with unanimous support. Throughout the process we listened and proposed all necessary amendments to ensure that we enact a strong law both from a criminal law perspective and also constitutionally."

The Bill had already been tabled in the last legislature before parliament was dissolved due to the general election in March. It was tabled again by Attard, who was appointed justice minister after the election.

The Bill commemorates the memories of Paulina Dembska, Chantelle Chetcuti and other women who were murdered due to their gender. Dembska was brutally raped and murdered in a public garden in Sliema at the turn of the year, causing widespread condemnation and shock.

Women's rights groups had long been calling for a specific reference to femicide in the Criminal Code, something that materialised earlier this year in the wake of Dembska's murder.

The changes to the Criminal Code make reference to ‘crime of passion’, which is often used by the defence to get softer punishments. In instances of femicide, this will no longer be an acceptable excuse when the judge comes to mete out punishment.