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causing embryopathy. For thalidomide survivors, the original impairments caused by the drug are compounded by the consequences of a lifetime of living with a rare disability and early-onset age-related health problems. This has profound im- plications for their quality of life and need for health and social care services. These issues must be addressed in research and clinical practice if thalidomide survivors are to age well. No doubt, many would say any financial payment, however gen- erous, would not be enough to truly compensate for what thalid- omide victims with severe disa- bilities had to go through. It is vital that there still be an ongoing pathway for survivors to get justice, recognition and ongo- ing support. The thalidomide saga has gone on too long. The victims' families and survivors need closure, as they are extremely and unaccept- ably exhausted. They can't spend the rest of their days fighting. The handful of people who sur- vived one of history's worst med- ical disasters continue to wait to see the results of a battle they should never have had to fight. 11 EDITORIAL maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 18 JUNE 2025 HUNGARY'S continued suppression of the LG- BTIQ+ community is condemnable. Earlier this year, the Hungarian parliament approved a con- stitutional amendment that bans public events by LGBTIQ+ communities. This legal amendment was used by the police in Budapest to refuse a permit for the organisation of the annual pride march in the country's capital. Incredibly, in their justification for the ban, the police said the march could result in "passive vic- tims". The victims they were referring to are not the members of the LGBTIQ+ community who face daily persecution, discrimination, threats and humiliation at the hands of homophobes and transphobes. No; the 'victims' they were refer- ring to are bystanders who may have felt offend- ed, threatened or possibly mortified by the mere presence of queer people in town. The Budapest Pride organisers called the police decision "a textbook example of tyranny". And that is exactly what it is—a clear attempt to sup- press a minority and deny it its fundamental hu- man rights. The Hungarian government justifies the ban on public LGBTIQ+ events by depicting it as some sort of 'protection' for children. It is a bullshit ex- cuse that uses children as a smokescreen to cover up blatant homophobia. It is an excuse founded on the notion that being gay is some sort of con- tagious disease that children and society must be protected from. It is an excuse that ignores the fact that there are LGBTIQ children and adoles- cents in Hungarian families and schools and who will find it harder to come out to their parents and friends. Irrespective of how the Hungarian government tries to package the laws clamping down on the rights of the LGBTIQ community, the legal amendments run contrary to the fundamental values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights enshrined in EU trea- ties. Hungary should be sanctioned by the EU for going down this dangerous path that seeks to cancel out communities on the basis of who they are and how they were born. But what is happening in Hungary should also serve as a lesson that rights and freedoms must never be taken for granted. Over the past 12 years Malta has passed laws that progressively strengthened the rights of LG- BTIQ persons. Malta has been leading the Rain- bow Index, a rights barometer, produced by IL- GA-Europe, an LGBTIQ advocacy group, for a decade now. Malta, correctly, joined the European Com- mission in legal proceedings it initiated against Hungary two years ago over a law that prohibit- ed LGBTIQ content, including sex education and media content, from being shown to children in school. Last month, Malta joined 19 other member states demanding a reversal of the Pride march ban and urging the European Commission to make full use of its rule of law toolbox if Hungary does not revise the contentious law. It is absurd that certain communities within the EU should be denied their fundamental rights and subjected to harmful restrictions that come with hefty fines or imprisonment, simply because they were born in the wrong country. While the sovereignty of member states should be respect- ed there should be no compromises on the com- mon values enshrined in EU treaties, which every member state signed up to. We believe Malta should continue to take a lead- ership role within the EU on this issue, especially at a time when regressive voices everywhere are attempting to claw back the freedoms acquired over the years. As an aside, Malta must also stop criminalis- ing abortion and instead legislate to allow wom- en the choice to terminate their pregnancy. The same principle of bodily autonomy applied to the LGBTIQ community—the freedom to live the life of their choosing—should also apply in reproduc- tive rights. It makes no sense that women in Mal- ta do not have access to safe and legal abortion, unlike women in other EU countries. EU must not tolerate Hungary's LGBTIQ suppression maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt survivors The thalidomide saga has gone on too long. The victims' families and survivors need closure, as they are extremely and unacceptably exhausted

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