Editorial

It must be every parent's nightmare: a paedophile in their children's midst. Last week, Joe Gerada, the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, went public with the fact that a man convicted in January of defiling a boy was allowed to stay on as a groundsman at the Pace Grasso Ground, in Paola, which was used as a place of recreation by children of a government school.

Mr Gerada wanted to force the hand of the man's employers, the Malta Football Association, after they failed to take action on being told of the conviction. Having finally, and grudgingly, decided to let the man go at the end of the football season (a few days ago), their response was to go into a huff and hit out at Mr Gerada, accusing him of "cheap propaganda".

We must be thankful that a gaping hole in child protection has been exposed in a relatively benign manner.

It is now incumbent upon the government to take steps to fill that hole. It was bad enough that the MFA seriously misjudged its response to the whole issue. It is perhaps even worse that they broke no law by their inaction.

In many countries, the police or a social welfare agency hold a confidential register of convicted sex offenders with personal details such as address, place of employment and, possibly, clubs or other places of leisure they frequent. One function of this list is to keep tabs on these people, given the risk they present to children. Another is to allow or oblige employers involved in the care of children to check if prospective employees are on it, without being given access to the register. It should be an offence to employ a known sex offender to do certain jobs.

The register is not a surefire system but the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK says it works. Had it been in place here, the MFA incident may not have taken place.

There are several other measures that could be taken to bolster child protection procedures. The recent spate of court cases involving sex offences against minors has only strengthened the need for them.

A first important step is for all schools to have safe playgrounds, preferably situated within the school grounds but definitely not, as is the case even in some primary schools, allowing easy access to the public.

The leaders of all organisations in touch with children - from schools to band clubs - should be made aware of their grave responsibility towards their charges. To this end, the government could issue general guidelines dealing with the prevention of paedophilia.

Child protection services must have sufficient resources to enable them to react promptly and effectively to any reports they receive of suspected child abuse, an increasing number of which are coming in from children through the Appogg helpline.

All schools should take very seriously the vital role that children themselves can play in prevention. Sedqa offers an appropriate programme that teaches young children about sex abuse. Perhaps it should be made part of the curriculum.

Paedophiles must also be offered help to change - or at least to resist their urges - through counselling or psychiatric input, whether in prison or in the community. This is something the courts may recommend in passing sentence. It would be easier to implement if an organised programme were on offer, by a government agency or possibly an NGO.

Other measures may be considered. Inaction would be failing the children.