Child sex abuse register welcome, but not enough

While the initiatives to introduce a child sex offenders register was a step in the right direction, an NGO yesterday underlined the importance of protecting children from other forms of abuse.

The authorities should focus on emotional, psychological and physical abuse, as a matter of priority, the Mid-Dawl Għad-Dawl foundation said.

A paedophile register would not protect potential victims of sexual abuse within families, where there is the highest incidence of such attacks, MDD pointed out.

Besides, it may also cause people placed on the register to suffer discrimination and be denied certain rights, such as employment.

Children's commissioner Carmen Zammit said on Tuesday that her office had started working on the introduction of a paedophile register, although it has not set any definite timeframes for its introduction. The Social Policy Ministry approved the proposal to set up the register last May.

MDD secretary George Busuttil said Parliament should ensure people on the register were barred from working in places frequented by children. He added that people jailed for sexual offences on children should be given the necessary medical care. The idea of introducing a child sex offenders' register in Malta was first raised in mid-2006 following a controversy involving the Malta Football Association, which had retained a 79-year-old convicted paedophile as a groundsman in Paola at a football ground which doubled as a playing field for a nearby school.

The issue keeps re-emerging with every subsequent conviction related to paedophelia. In the most recent case, a 61-year old man was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of raping and sexually abusing his partner's 10-year-old daughter over a period of four years.

There are currently 243 children in Malta under care orders for various reasons, including lack of care and sexual, physical or psychological abuse, Social Policy Minister John Dalli recently told Parliament.