International Men's Day (Malta)

International Men's Day has been celebrated in Malta by the Association for Men's Rights since 1994. AMR founder and director John Zammit conceived the event which has been held yearly in the form of a dinner, lunch or reception for AMR members and public. On this occasion awards are given to individuals who have made distinctive contributions men's rights such as, for example, efforts made by committee members, "for the removal of the impediment of departure which we had on men in separation/divorce cases. Before 1995 all men who had problems with their wives in Malta, be it Maltese or foreigners, could not leave the island while their case was still in court and so were imprisoned in Malta." The Malta event has traditionally been observed on 7 February since 1994, making it the longest-running local IMD observation in the world. As the February date is not celebrated by other participating countries and did not qualify as an internationally observed date, discussions were undertaken within the Maltese Association for Men's Rights, and on 17 January 2009, the committee voted unanimously to shift their celebrations to 19 November to coincide with all the others around the world.