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MT 17 April 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 22 Opinion MARTHA FITZ & SUZANNE VELLA W e would like to voice our concerns in the light of the Equality Act being prepared by the civil liberties minister, Helena Dalli. We feel that through this Act, the best interest of the child will be weakened and will not have the same significance as given at present through the Convention for the Rights of the Child (Articles 3 and 9), a Convention in which Malta had also agreed with and signed. This Act will give the possibility to every person, including single women, single men or gay couples to acquire their own children by obtaining egg or sperm from a source. This is so as the Equality Act is going to give access to all medical services including IVF to any marital status. This will reduce children to the level of a product which is acquired. The idea of receiving one's child as a gift where the gift determines the conditions, is turned into a commodity which is ordered, many a time according to certain criteria. As the present IVF legislation stands, children get to enjoy the unity of their biological parents. With the proposed law, some of the children born through IVF will be treated unfairly, because they will be created with the intention of being cut off from their genetic heritage. It is not true that love is enough. The stories and experiences of youths and adults show that intentionally cutting them off from their original roots has left an effect on their life. As Tom Ellis (donor conceived) put it: "I had been taught by my parents, and at school, that any family is OK so long as somebody loves you. It's not. I wish it were. I now have a deep need to find out who my father is. I want to know what he looks like, where he is, what he enjoys, which parts of my character I share with him. I need to know who it is that makes me who I am. You can't put a child or an adult into a situation like this and tell them that all you need is love and care, because it's not true. You need the genetic links, too." What happens during conception, in the womb, at birth and after, are all part of our identity. If we just focus on the adults' wishes to have a child, we will be compromising on the way children enter this life. With this new law it is easy to create a new culture that children are there to make adults happy and not that parents are there for the children. The present Embryo Protection Act will be forced into change with this new law. Even though we are being told that there is room for consultation, in reality we know that everything has already been planned and promised from the LGBTIQ Action Plan 2015-2017, of the same ministry of Dr Helena Dalli, as indicated in page 11 no 4.4 of this document: "Remove all obstacles that impede the right to private and family life on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics by: Conducting a review of the constitutionality of the provisions within the Embryo Protection Act that de facto exclude lesbians from the ability to receive treatment." We are also disappointed that the Opposition Party is not taking part in this debate. What does the statement by Simon Busuttil to MaltaToday (18 February) "We stand by the embryo protection law" really mean in the light of all this? Every relationship is equal in dignity and respect. But not every relationship is the same. In this regard, this Act is more about sameness than equality. A child has a right to both his or her parents. As the American College of Paediatricians put it, biology matters: "Depriving a child of one or both biologic parents, is unhealthy." [http://www.acpeds.org/the-college- speaks/position-statements/parenting- issues/homosexual-parenting-is-it-time- for-change]. Purposefully denying the child a mother or a father is an injustice towards the child. We appeal to all those who have the children's well-being at heart to do something. Suzanne Vella and Martha Fitz are mums. They run the Facebook group 'Save The Embryo Protection Act, Malta' T he government has tried to deflect the latest revelations in Panamagate by saying there is no proof of corruption and that the Opposition has been left with just suspicions. It would seem that being above suspicion is now no longer a prerequisite for ministers and top government officials; but beyond justified suspicions of corruption, the real elephant in the room is tax evasion (or avoidance as some others might prefer to call it). Energy minister Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri have set up companies in Panama where they can enjoy the benefits of very low income tax rates, banking secrecy and non-cooperation with foreign countries and institutions. This not only shows that the tax audit ordered by the Prime Minister will not get us anywhere, but whatever Mizzi's and Schembri's intentions were, they created financial structures which allow them to pay less taxes in Malta. And these are two Labour stalwarts, who have completely done away with what education minister Evarist Bartolo said was one of the party's founding values, fiscal morality. Such tax avoidance schemes are alien to many because 99% of the population has never had the need to shift money across the ocean. In essence, the anger stirred by Panamagate is not derived from the suspicion of corruption alone but the growing sensation that there is one rule for the rich and mighty and another for us mere mortals. The real concern here is that it is perfectly legal for the elite to park their money offshore and avoid paying tax. And this is not only immoral, but in my books it should be illegal since it deprives the State of money which could be used to improve our hospitals, schools, roads and welfare system. Simply put, tax avoidance proliferates inequality. This week, leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – who certainly cannot be classified as radical leftists - warned that the industrial scale of international tax avoidance revealed by the Panama Papers represents a "great concern" for the global economy and is having a "tremendously negative effect on our mission to end poverty." Instead, we have a Labour government which is increasingly dependent on the privatisation of public services and the commodification of public land and citizenship. And let's not kid ourselves: Malta itself is at the very centre of the global tax avoidance industry. Malta is no Panama. But we must take a good look at ourselves and our place within the world economy. Making one country less attractive to global capital will simply push money to other territories. The problem is international and requires a worldwide solution. We must ask ourselves whether Malta should be an actor in the international orgy of tax evasion, money laundering and kleptocracy, or whether we want an economy that works for all people rather than the few, based on social justice and the highest labour and environmental standards. Sadly there is broad consensus across the political divide that the financial services industry is indispensable and Malta should maintain its lax tax regime. Over the years Malta has gained an undesirable reputation as an offshore haven for hot money within Europe. Since joining the single currency eight years ago, successive governments have championed an investor-friendly economy, to the degree that other EU countries, including Germany, France, the UK and Italy, view Malta as a tax haven. On a global level, this race to the bottom often irks larger economies and the EU's economic powerhouses are less than pleased with Malta's lax tax regime. In order to maintain a competitive edge, Malta offers wealthy individuals and corporations advantageous tax rates, using tax breaks to attract investment or hot money, which could possibly originate from criminal activities as shown by the recent crackdown on online betting companies with links to the Italian mafia. Malta is under increased pressure as Germany, France and Italy are pressing the EU to tighten restrictions on tax havens, after calling for measures to impede "aggressive tax planning" and "profit shifting." Following the Panama Papers leak, Germany's finance minister is planning a national transparency register that will oblige offshore companies to disclose the identity of their owners and ensure that beneficial owners of offshore companies no longer remain anonymous. Here, the political class has closed ranks and insists that the trickle down effect of this industry is of great benefit to all. The trickledown effect is possibly one of the greatest hoaxes of the last century. A 2012 study shows that wealth doesn't trickle down but it just floods offshore, with up to €28 trillion siphoned off to tax havens. The political class, in Malta and abroad, seem detached from the real aspirations of people, of the 99% who only want the elite to pay their fair share of taxes as they do. Psaila The idea of receiving one's child as a gift where the gift determines the conditions, is turned into a commodity which is ordered, many a time according to certain criteria Wanted, sperm donor, good looking, high IQ Offshore's global tax ruse should be illegal Jurgen Balzan

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