It is absolutely shocking that in a country of this population, 26 people were found guilty of and were given prison sentences for abusing children last year alone.  It should be pointed out that the total equates to one child abuse conviction every two weeks in 2012

It is also abundantly obvious that the number of actual convictions is merely the tip of the iceberg and that the number of cases that go unreported is exponentially higher.  That holds true with all crime, but especially so when comes to child abuse, and for a number of reasons.

For starters, children who are abused by their own family members or by persons of authority are understandably reticent about speaking up and when they do speak up, at times they are not believed.  Also, when it comes to abuse at the hands of family members there are, tragically, so many families that would rather cover up the abuse rather than expose the family to what they perceive as the ensuing humiliation.

As we have seen in the not too distant past, in the case of certain orphanages, it was not until years later that orphans who had been abused were able to summon the inner courage to speak of the dreadful deeds done unto them.

So, in actual fact, when a case of child abuse is actually brought to court, it is nothing short of miraculous and in those cases the children and their parents deserve to be commended for their courage, their fight for justice and their desire to see that other children do not suffer the same abuse that they have had to endure - since every case that makes it to court and is reported by the press gives that little bit of courage that may help others to come forward in the same way.

Having said that, there are other means of determining the extent of child abuse behind closed doors, but the authorities appear to have been lax about it.

For starters, we learned this week by way of the answer to the same parliamentary question that revealed last year’s number of convictions, that the hospital does not keep statistics on the number of minors it admits for treatment for the effects of physical or sexual abuse.

This fact alone is shocking, and it also could also mean that hospital admission staff not only does not log suspected cases of child abuse, but that they do not report them to the authorities either.

The new health minister said he was shocked to have learned as much in the parliament this week, and he pledged to take action to correct the situation. It is hoped that such action is taken not in the near but in the immediate future.

It must be ensured that the hospitals do not only keep statistics of minors admitted for suspected sexual or physical abuse, but it should also be ensured that each and every suspected case is reported to the relevant authorities.

Back in 2010, in the wake of the sex abuse scandal at a Maltese orphanage and the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, former family minister Dolores Cristina had said that the reporting of suspected child abuse should be made mandatory, by law, for everyone. 

It was said, in an interview with this newspaper at the time, that ‘when there is a case of alleged child abuse, nobody has a right to protection and that it is in the best interest of children for cases to be reported by whoever is aware of them’.  We concur fully with the mindset, but unfortunately, these encouraging words have still to be followed up with action.

We will not delve into the full set of figures that were published by way of Parliament this week, except to point out that last year was no extraordinary circumstance, and that so far this year, 10 convictions for child abuse have been handed down and the country is well on its way to matching last year’s number.

Nor did the figures released specify whether those convictions were for sexual or physical abuse.  But given the fact that, in Malta, corporal punishment is still legal, if not sexual, then the physical abuse those children suffered must have been savage. 

By definition, corporal punishment is the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behaviour and may include abusive methods such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, the use of various objects – paddles, belts, sticks, or others - or painful body postures.  In Malta, this is lawful in the home and in alternative care settings.

As matters currently stand, by allowing corporal punishment in the home and in alternative care settings, Malta is in violation of the European Social Charter. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2000 and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2004 called on Malta to correct the situation. Both had expressed concern about Malta’s ‘reasonable chastisement’ provision that allows corporal punishment, and both had called on Malta to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in the family.

The Children’s Commissioner had recently called for a change in the law corporal punishment law, and it is hoped that recommendation will be taken up in the near future.

It is also hoped that the new country’s new administration will ensure that better records on child abuse case are kept so that the real extent of the problem can be known, and that it will also follow up on the former family minister’s proposal  to make the reporting of child abuse mandatory at law.