Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/795987
3 MATTHEW AGIUS THE Constitutional Court has ef- fectively ordered the recusal of a judge hearing a claim for damages by 10 victims of clerical sex abuse, saying the victims' fears that the sitting judge's involvement in Church-related organisations ob- jectively justified their fears of bias. The former residents at the St Joseph Home in Hamrun of the Missionary Society of St Paul – Lawrence Grech, Joseph Magro, Leonard Camilleri, David Cassar, Noel Dimech, Angelo Spiteri, Ray- mond Azzopardi, Charles Falzon, Philip Cauchi and Joseph Mangion – had filed a claim for damages against the Missionary Society of St Paul following the 2012 convic- tion of now defrocked Mission- ary Society of St Paul priests Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scer- ri. Pulis and Scerri were sentenced to five and six years' imprisonment respectively for sexually abusing a number of boys in their care. When this case was allotted to Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, the victims had asked him to recuse himself, citing the judge's connec- tions to the Church as president of a foundation which runs the Cath- olic radio station Radju Marija. But Mr Justice Micallef had been of the opinion that the rules regulating recusal in the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure precluded him from abstaining from hearing the case and that he was therefore obliged to hear it. The victims had filed constitu- tional proceedings after the judge had refused to step down, claim- ing their right to a fair hearing would be breached if he decided their claim. In April last year, the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitu- tional jurisdiction, with Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti presiding, had de- cided against the men, who then appealed to the Constitutional Court. In its decision handed down yes- terday, the Constitutional Court, composed of Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, overturned the First Hall's judgement. The three judges noted that a judge's refusal to recuse himself because of fears as to his impar- tiality is not, in itself, an indicator of partiality. "Neither is it true that because a judge lives his faith 'pub- licly and actively', this would give rise to 'dubious circumstances', a judge is not required to live his faith in the catacombs in order to be seen as objectively impartial." It noted that "from the consti- tutional perspective, however, other considerations apply" to Mr Justice Micallef 's decision not to recuse himself. These considera- tions included looking at whether there was an objective justification to the fears of partiality or impar- tiality of a judge. The determining criteria, the court said, was wheth- er this fear or that perception was based on objective considerations that any reasonable, unprejudiced, person would arrive at. The court said that the case before it rested on the existence or otherwise of these objective reasons. Although there were no strict, hierarchical ties between the Archdiocese and the radio station, the court said that the perception of close ties between them was "not an entirely stretched one." "This perception springs from the objective fact that the [radio station's] director of programming must always be a cleric, when seen that the same director had stated that if he "sang out of key," he would be sent for by the Arch- bishop and taking into account the fact that the Provincial of the Dominican order had the power to demand the resignation of the said director. "It is true that there is a distinc- tion between the role of the direc- tor of programming and the presi- dent of the association, but both have a leading role in the manage- ment of the same." The court held that the percep- tion of ties between the Archdio- cese and the association was "not unreasonable and that this could negatively affect the appearance of objective impartiality. The doubt [as to objective impartiality] is objectively justified, even if this doubt doesn't strike at the subjec- tive impartiality of the judge." The court upheld the appeal and declared that the men would suffer a breach of their right to a fair hearing if Mr Justice Micallef failed to recuse himself. The case will now be assigned to another judge. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 MARCH 2017 News JURGEN BALZAN WOMEN'S absence from lead- ership positions and the impli- cations of economic discrimina- tion is cause for alarm, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca warned yesterday. "We cannot allow women's perspectives to be absent from policymaking and decision-taking processes," she warned ahead of today's In- ternational Women's Day. Coleiro Preca took the oppor- tunity to appeal to all the politi- cal parties in Malta, to encour- age more women to take part in the country's political and pub- lic life by exploring innovative ways. In Malta, just nine of Malta's 71 MPs are women, placing the country in the 142nd place worldwide in terms of women representation in parliament, behind countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Guatemala. Coleiro Preca said the latest European Gender Equality In- dex rated Malta at 29.4% when it came to Maltese women's politi- cal participation, when the EU average stood at 49.8%. "By 2030, the nations of the world have committed them- selves to raise the percentage of women in global government to 50%. We definitely need to in- vest more of our energies and resources into making this tar- get a reality." Closing a conference, titled 'Women in Politics and Lead- ership', organised by the Presi- dent's Foundation for the Well- being of Society, the President encouraged decision-makers to be bold and to work together to develop innovative and further inclusive strategies for the fu- ture. One of the newer entities of the President's Foundation – the Forum for Active Community Engagement (FACE) – organ- ised the conference. Also in- vited to address the conference were Zita Gurmai, president of the Party of European Socialist Women, and Caterina Chinnici, MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Dem- ocrats. Coleiro Preca highlighted the dire situation where just 2.7% of women were represented on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies in Malta, and for every woman who either held the position of director or CEO, there were four men occupying such a role. "The gender pay gap also con- tinues to widen. Eurostat figures show the gap has increased to 10.6% in 2016 from 4.5% in 2014. We must definitely do more, in synergy between our national authorities and civil society, to address this alarming state of affairs," the President said. "Gender equity is not simply a 'women's issue'. It is essential for our healthy democratic republic to take our responsibilities, as women and men, and the whole of society, seriously," she added. Malta's low levels of political representation was also raised by Ruth Farrugia, director gen- eral of the President's Founda- tion for the Wellbeing of Society, who said people were concerned at the present "miserable" rates. "Our response to these con- cerns has been to provide a space to delve into these issues and hopefully to come up with some concrete suggestions that may lead to changes in policy and practice," she said. During the event, the founda- tion provided a platform for the launch of a new NGO called Network of Young Women Leaders, an inspiring group of young women from diverse backgrounds who came togeth- er to set up a support system for young women in leadership. "Advancing feminism in Malta has rarely been more power- ful than in this room right now – let's make this International Women's Day different," Far- rugia said, addressing a packed room of women gathered at San Anton Palace. President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca (centre) said women cannot be absent from policymaking and decision-taking processes Constitutional court orders judge's recusal in clerical sex abuse compensation case When this case was allotted to Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, the victims had asked him to recuse himself, citing the judge's connections to the Church Coleiro Preca urges parties to be bold in encouraging women participation in politics