Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1435908
14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2021 NEWS NICOLE MEILAK SEVERAL press freedom group have written to the Prime Minis- ter urging him to rescind a legal notice that allows court judge- ments to be removed on 'right to be forgotten' grounds. The letter was penned by AR- TICLE 19, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Eu- ropean Federation of Journal- ists, Free Press Unlimited, In- ternational Press Institute, OBC Transeuropa, Reporters With- out Borders. In their letter, the groups con- sider it "disingenuous" to rely on the right to be forgotten as the underlying principle of the no- tice. "This principle pertains to del- isting from a commercial search engine, such as Google, under specific circumstances. This cannot be compared to the re- moval of personal data from an online service administered by the government that contains public records." They acknowledged that there may be legitimate reasons why certain judgments or parts thereof ought not to be public. One instance is to protect the rights of minors. However, they expressed con- cern with the way this legal no- tice was introduced. The court director is a non-judicial ap- pointee without statutory auton- omy, who is appointed by and answers directly to the Minister of Justice. Through this notice, govern- ment bestows onto the direc- tor full discretion to decide whether a judgment is partially anonymised or even removed from the public record alto- gether or never published in the first place "The principle of publicity of court proceedings, including the verdict, as protected under European human rights law and extensively developed in the Eu- ropean Court of Human Rights' jurisprudence, is an essential means for realising the right to a fair trial and maintaining public confidence in the judiciary." The legal notice was intro- duced last week by Justice Minis- ter Edward Zammit Lewi, giving unfettered power to the director of the law courts to delete judg- ments from the public website. The minister subsequently said that guidelines would be published to ensure the right to forget can be exercised with cau- tion. The Opposition has filed a par- liamentary motion asking for the legal notice to be withdrawn af- ter several media organisations and lobby groups, including the Institute for Maltese Journalists, objected to the rules. Repeal court judgement deletion notice, international press groups urge PM LAURA CALLEJA A shift in mentality is needed to encour- age people to solve problems through mediation and keep disputes out of court as much as possible, Justice Minister Ed- ward Zammit Lewis has said. He was speaking at the launch of an initiative to develop Malta's restorative justice model for children. The initia- tive aims to educate children in the use of mediation to solve their disputes. The initiative is a joint venture be- tween the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, chaired by former president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, and the justice and education minis- tries. Zammit Lewis said the traditional criminal justice system was often criti- cised as too formal and punitive. "This is why the government, togeth- er with the MFWS and the Education Ministry, is working to modernise the system in a way that addresses the dis- connect between the community and institutions. We plan to introduce a se- ries of restorative justice programmes that will have an impact on the criminal justice process," Zammit Lewis said. He said the initiative will empower students to resolve conflicts by them- selves or in small groups. Fortunately, there are resources to train educators in the area of restorative justice and devel- op a plan. Zammit Lewis added that he believed schools were the foundation of society and the key to building a stronger to- morrow. MFWS chair, Marie-Louise Colei- ro Preca, said the organisation wanted to see a shift in society's mentality by focusing on children and empowering them with the tools to improve their skills to better "communicate, empa- thise, listen and speak in such a way that will ultimately help in conflict res- olution and in understanding each oth- er's differences." Coleiro Preca, who is also Eurochild president, said the first step in this process was listening to the Children's Council to gauge their views and expe- riences. This will lead to the creation of Re- storative Practice Circles, which will provide a learning opportunity for stu- dents to build social-emotional skills and lead to better emotional literacy, Coleiro Preca said. Education Minister Justyne Caruana said this was an important initiative, especially when considering the new reality brought about by the worldwide pandemic. "This exercise will have a direct im- pact on our children, helping them in their development, driving a mentali- ty shift, and most importantly, making them better citizens of our country," she said. MFWS has also sought the expertise of anthropologist Susan Hirsch, a profes- sor in conflict resolution at George Ma- son University in Washington DC, to guide them in implementing this pro- ject and drafting the Malta model for restorative justice for children. Hirsch is running a similar programme in the US. Societal shift needed to replace court disputes with mediation