#KeepingUpwithTheInterns Archives - Page 4 of 5

Being non-binary in Malta

#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hey all! Hope everyone is safe! This week I am going to talk about a topic close to my heart: human rights and the LGBTIQ+ community. I enjoy reading and informing myself regarding these topics, and since I am part of the community, I also have my personal experience to share. That is why I would like to share it with you all! Hope you enjoy it!

So first off…what does LGBTIQ+ stand for?

L is for lesbian, G is for gay, B is for bisexual, T is for Transgender, I is for Intersex, Q is for Queer or Questioning and the ‘+’ represents the rest of the community.

Around the world, the LGBTIQ+ community continues to face violence, legal discrimination and other human rights abuses on bases of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and/or sex characteristics. Many LGBTIQ+ people cannot fully enjoy their universal human rights. They have a higher risk of becoming victims of hate crime, torture, killing and executions, arrests under unjust laws, unequal treatment, censorship, medical abuses, discrimination in health and jobs and housing, domestic violence, abuses against children, and denial of family rights and recognition. 76 countries in the world still have same-sex criminalization. Six countries still have the death penalty for same-sex relationships.

COVID-19 impact on cities and mental health

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hi everyone! I hope you are all safe. The number of COVID-19 cases in Malta decreased a lot throughout last week, which means that we are doing well in following the instructions of social distancing. It’s great, and I hope that this situation will soon be over. But let’s remember that patience is the key to overcome difficulties.

Today’s topic for my #KeepingUpWithTheInterns blog post was inspired from a webinar which took place on 29 April, via Zoom. It was organised by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and it focused on the impact on mental health of COVID-19, and the measures taken for its protection.

In this blog post, I will be talking about the well-being of healthy cities. This part of the webinar delivered by Monika Kosinska, Regional Focal Point at WHO (World Health Organization) European Healthy Cities Network.

Reflections on refugees @ sea

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hey all! I hope everyone is safe and taking all the precautions needed.

This week I started writing this blog post on Easter Sunday. My family and I were gathered around the kitchen table with warm food that my sisters and I had prepared. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by my family. As I had this wonderful image in front of me, I could not stop but think about the people stranded at sea. My social media was bombarded with news on how a group of asylum-seekers where stranded at sea. These articles had a profound impact on me and that’s why I decided to write this blog post.

I thought, “at the moment there are groups of men, women and children who are aboard a rubber boat, which has been stranded for more than five days now. They are facing the risk of being left to drown during those days of religious celebration for Christians, since both Malta and Italy closed their ports, having declared that they are unsafe“.

Learning about stateless children

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Hi everyone! I hope you are all safe and everything is going well! I am sure we will overcome these difficult days together very soon!

Today’s topic is new for me also, as I luckily got the chance to get acquainted with it through a webinar. The webinar took place on 3 April via Zoom, it was hard to focus due to distractions made by some hackers! However, luckily it was shortly after uploaded on Youtube in a much clearer version…and it is still available!

This blog post is inspired by this webinar. It was about statelessness and done by the European Network for Statelessness. During the webinar, I got an idea of the amount of suffering stateless children experience and how urgently this needs to stop.

Interviews about the repercussions of Covid-19 on refugees & migrants

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#KeepingUpWithTheInterns

Last week I was going through the news and reading about the current COVID-19 pandemic. I came across a Times Of Malta article ‘Migrants ‘more vulnerable’ to COVID-19 impact’. In this article the Director of Integra, Maria Pisani,

Imagine losing everything on your way to Europe and suddenly facing a new crisis in your new home: you’ve just lost your job, have no internet to stay updated about the novel corona-virus and no friends or family to support you with food or medicine. This is the situation in which some migrants have suddenly found themselves.
Dr. Maria Pisani, Integra Foundation

After reading this article I decided to sit down with our Legal Officer, Claire Delom, a French human rights lawyer with expertise in refugee law. I also spoke with Sarah Giusti, Social Worker at The Jesuit Refugee Service: “JRS in Malta seeks to accompany, serve and defend the rights of asylum seekers and forcibly displaced persons who arrive in Malta”.

I interviewed them regarding the current situation affecting local migrants and refugees.