Malta

August 2016: Outreach letter sent in advance of CAAC Open Debate.

January 2017: HRW Brussels received information that an endorsement letter has been sent to Malta’s Political Director for approval. Advocacy meeting with GVA mission. We met with Ambassador Olaph Terribile. He assured us that Malta would endorse within the coming two weeks, and hoped that it would get attention in Brussels due to their presidency of the EU this half-year. When I offered that my colleague who is visiting Malta next week could meet with their MFA to discuss the issue, he assured us: “that won’t be necessary.”

February – March 2017: Save the Children and HRW in Brussels both followed up with Malta. March 2017: Malta endorsed the Declaration.

September 2017: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict. We also congratulated with them on the endorsing and we sked them to highilt this in the open debate.

February 2018: In advance of the End Violence Solutions Summit in Stockholm on 14-15 February, GCPEA issued letter to Malta, calling on them to highlight the Declaration during the summit.

July 2018: Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict. Further, UNSC Open Debate on children and armed conflict: 1) Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018). 2) referred to attacks on schools in their statement.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

April 2021: GCPEA (Yatasha) met with the Mission in New York. The Mission was particularly interested in meeting with GCPEA in light of their UNSC candidacy and to hear more about the work of GCPEA. GCPEA explained the work of the coalition; areas of collaboration with Malta and explained the importance of highlighting the Safe Schools Declaration at the UNSC. Examples of good practice in implementation was shared including the updating of military manuals and new EU Child Rights Policy. Malta was encouraged to share information on developments in the country. The Mission was also informed about the International Conference. Malta informed GCPEA that of their priorities for the UNSC candidature is on WPS and on literacy (hence their interest in engaging more on safe schools and children and armed conflict).

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

December 2021: positive statement at arria formula meeting on protection of education during armed conflict citing SSD. Condemn all attacks on schools, they “violation international humanitarian law”. Called for greater accountability for perpetrators of attacks and stressed the gender aspect of this issue, calling for gender-sensitive approaches. “Synergies with other international instruments should also be explored, such as the Paris Agreement, Vancouver Principles, and the Safe Schools Declaration” … “we call on all states to endorse these relevant instruments”.

January 2022: 0n 17/01 Nevena and Apolline with Andrea De Bono Sant Cassia, Permanent Representative of Malta in New York. Malta reached out to GCPEA to discuss GCPEA’s key priorities for the Security Council in 2022. if elected for the UNSC 2023-2024 term, Malta would like to focus on CAAC and literacy. Their foreign minister used to be minister of education, therefore there is a strong focus on education in their foreign engagement. We discussed the following priorities: promote the issue of attacks on education and the Declaration within the CAAC agenda and beyond (I.e., inject SSD language in POC, WPS, Sexual Violence, EWIPA, and Youth, Peace, and Security agendas), encourage states to implement the recommendations in the resolution, and a stronger focus on accountability (most notably, advocate for a credible list that accurately reflects all parties that attack schools and students, and encourage the UNSC to refer cases to the ICC for investigations). We also encouraged them to conduct peer-to-peer advocacy, particularly with other UN SC members that have not yet endorsed.

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : – “All parties to conflict must comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights. We encourage all Member States to commit to the Safe Schools Declaration,”
– “Malta and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General are collaborating to hold a virtual summer school on children and armed conflict later this summer, which will lay the groundwork for diverse individuals working in the field to meaningfully contribute to the children and armed conflict agenda.”
– “Children and armed conflict will be one of our top priorities when we join the Security Council in January 2023. We are convinced that this is an area in which we can contribute in a significant manner.”

October 2022: On 28 October, Apolline and Nevena met in person with Mr. Andrea De Bono Sant Cassia and Ms. Justine Micallef from the NY mission. We discussed Malta’s priorities for its upcoming tenure at the UN Security Council, and explored areas for collaboration, particularly on the CAAC and POC agendas. In particular, we discussed the follow-up to UNSC resolution 2601. For instance, the idea of them supporting an event, potentially Aria formula meeting, for the second anniversary of the UNSC resolution 2601 together with Switzerland. We also highlighted the need to mainstream 2601 in other resolutions. We encouraged them to write a letter, with other Council members, addressed to the UN Secretary General, with the SRSG CAAC and UNICEF’s Executive Director in copy, asking for an update on the progress of the Resolution’s para. 19 “reporting lessons learned and best practices on the children and armed conflict mandate”. And we shared the list of the 14 countries that have endorsed 2601 but not the SSD, and encouraged them to conduct bilateral outreach (particularly with new council member Japan). Malta will have the Presidency in February. They are also interested in chairing the Working Group on CAAC. We raised the idea of organising a side event on protecting education during the PoC week (May) to help address education not only through its CAAC agenda (go beyond schools and children) but also taking up the issue of protecting higher education students, educators, and institutions.

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.