“Hitting children hurts for life,” says Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca

by Gozo News · September 1, 2019

Former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has called for zero violence towards children.

She explained that many youngsters attending summer school were unaware that any form of violence against children was illegal, highlighting the urgent need to promote the concept of positive parenting,

These details emerged during The Secret Garden activities carried out by The Children’s Hub Team within the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, among 550 children attending SkolaSajf.

The sessions, which focused on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, will culminate this Monday, with SkolaSajf’s special parliamentary session for children at the House of Representatives, in Valletta.

Violence on children, was one of the recurring themes that generated a lot of discussion, which stemmed from SDG 16, which focuses on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and inclusive institutions at all levels, the Society said.

Angela Caruana, the hub’s team leader said many were astonished to learn that hitting children was illegal in Malta, and innocently asked, “not even my parents can hit me?”

She said that a 10-year-old boy challenged his peers during one of the sessions, saying that he believed hitting children was important, but none of them agreed.

“During this time, I was sitting among the children and a girl came up to me and whispered,” `you know why he says that, because he was never hit.,hitting children hurts.’ Ms Caruana said. “She was convinced her mum did not love her as she hit her a lot and hurt her a lot.”

“During another session, a young kid shared his experience that hitting at his house was normal; he didn’t like it but said he was naughty.”

“These statements clearly showed that corporal punishment was still ingrained in the island’s culture,” said Ms Coleiro Preca, who is also President of Eurochild – a children’s rights advocacy network with 176 members in 34 countries.

She went on to say that, “in the past, discipling children by hitting them was an acceptable practice – those times are past and this has to stop. We have to summon everyone’s commitment to achieve zero violence towards our children and promote positive parenting among those who care for our children.

“Research shows that children who have experienced any form of violence suffer psychologically and carry this with them throughout their adult life. We need long-term policies in place that engage every strata of society to change this behaviour in the long-term.”

The activities carried out in the school aimed to empower children to understand that each and every individual can participate to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change while ensuring no one was left behind.

Another theme that kept cropping up was the environment, as well as the importance of working together and not getting distracted from achieving national goals because of piques and greed for power, the Society said.

“The children’s message was loud and clear: if they were capable of doing their bit towards achieving goals for society’s wellbeing, then as adults we do have to do our part and take wise decisions for their future,” Ms Coleiro Preca concluded.