Eleven men, including two who were convicted of raping their own daughters, are listed on the child offenders register, according to the Home Affairs’ Ministry.
The aim is to make the names of people convicted of abuse available to agencies dealing with children
The number of entries on the list, created to protect minors from abusers, has doubled since December when six men were listed.
Now there are 12 entries that include one man who was listed twice after two separate convictions – one for defiling a boy and the other for engaging in sexual activities with two young boys.
Five of the men listed were found guilty of the possession of child pornographic material, two were convicted of defilement, and one of violent indecent assault.
The register came into force on January 20, 2012, but five months after its creation, no names were listed on it.
Back then, former justice minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici – who spearheaded the law – called on the judiciary to make use of the “very good instrument” available to protect children.
The aim of the register is to make the names of people convicted of abuse available to agencies dealing with children, even when the courts may have ordered a ban on publication of the name to protect the victims.
Convictions that could lead to inclusion on the list include defilement, rape, having sex with minors, child abduction, prostitution, pornography, trafficking in minors, harassment and neglect.
Once listed, a person would not be able to be a member of, work or hold any position within an organisation involved in the education, care, custody and welfare of minors.
The law is not retroactive, so a person listed on the register would have to be convicted after it came into force. The law leaves the listing entirely up to the discretion of the court.
The proposal for a paedophile register surfaced in mid-2006 in the wake of a controversy involving the Malta Football Association, which had kept a 79-year-old convicted paedophile as a groundsman at the Pace Grasso ground in Paola, which doubles as a playing field for a nearby school.