International Women’s Day commemorated in the shadow of Bernice’s murder

International Women’s Day is being commemorated this year in the shadow of Bernice Cilia’s murder with political parties calling for concrete support for victims of domestic abuse.

Nationalist Party spokespersons Graziella Attard Previ and Claudette Buttigieg said the State’s failure to protect Cilia was a failure to protect all women.

They called on the government to publish the full inquiry report on Cilia’s murder and not just the conclusions.

Cilia (Bernice Cassar's maiden surname is being used instead to reflect the family's wishes), a mother of two, was murdered last year by her estranged husband. An inquiry appointed by the government found that the State failed to protect her because of lack of resources and increased work load.

“Despite the legal changes and all the progress to advance women’s rights, Maltese women still feel threatened and not protected enough. We need to go from words to action and government must truly show it is willing to protect women from domestic violence,” the PN MPs said. “It is surreal that in 2023 we are still discussing domestic violence and what should be done to address this scourge.”

Cassar’s murder was also raised by ADPD Deputy Chairperson Sandra Gauci, who called it “an open wound”.

“It is hard to forget how a woman who was suffering from violence had reported the incidents once, twice, indeed six times but there were no resources to assist her. It seems that moneys to be wasted on corrupt contracts we do have but not to protect our women,” Gauci said.

She said it is futile that femicide is now a violent act in its own right at law if no action is taken or the little that is, takes too long to be implemented.

“The crux of the matter is that a woman is still considered as an object belonging to a man and God forbid if she leaves the relationship or speaks up. To add insult to injury we have suspended sentences awarded by the courts such as in the recent case by Magistrate Monica Vella that are presented as exemplary – these just show how our institutions are not giving due consideration to the seriousness of the violence against women problem and seem to almost condone such violence,” Gauci said, calling for urgency to fix these problems.

ADPD Deputy Secretary-general Melissa Bagley said that for women’s advancement to lead to respect, men should be committed to it as well.

“We need to work hand-in-hand to move away from a patriarchal society towards a more inclusive and just one where men and women share their duties on an equal basis, with equal opportunities where it is not just the women who carry the family responsibilities alone,” Bagley said.