The Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations (OCVO) has informed the public that despite ongoing police investigations, the order to suspend the compliance of YMCA has been revoked by the Commissioner with immediate effect.

"This decision has been taken in light of the fact that investigations by this Office have established, amongst other things, that this association has the necessary safeguards with regard to allegations or cases of harassment or allegations of sexual abuse."

"This association has always put into practice these safeguards when this was required and in a professional matter, both when the allegations were proven or when through the same measures, it was determined that they were not."

The Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations expresses his gratitude to the different authorities that have been in one way or another involved to ensure that throughout the work which was being carried out to establish the truth, the operations and service of this organisation were not interrupted.

"In the context of this delicate phase of the investigation, Dr Charles Cassar will maintain his role to ensure that the investigative process of the police can continue, while at the same time safeguarding the operations of the organisation together with its executive administration, which includes the CEO."

Charles Cassar had been appointed to the Board of Administrators and was given executive administrative powers to ensure that there is full cooperation with the authorities during the investigations, and to make sure that the service YMCA offers is not impacted.

Policies at National Level to safeguard the Voluntary Sector

Meanwhile, with immediate effect, the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, Jesmond Saliba announced new measures that he will be following in situations that in some way could be associated with abuse or misconduct or allegations of abuse or misconduct, "to ensure these are handled correctly."

"Consequently, any individual or administrator, worker, volunteer or any other person that receives a services from a voluntary organisation, registered or otherwise, that feels to be the victim of aggression or abused is encouraged to confidentially inform the Office of the Commissioner on [email protected]. Organisations themselves are obliged through this policy to report the same type of cases on the same email address."

Commissioner Jesmond Saliba explained that since Maltese law stipulates that such acts could be criminal, civil or both, the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations will be referring such cases immediately to the Commissioner of Police for investigation to determine whether such cases would be of a criminal nature. "In this way, we can ascertain that the victims that emerge from these situations will be safeguarded in every way possible", Saliba said.

 

Saliba added that he believes wholeheartedly in the work of the voluntary sector and its social impact and therefore he "had and will keep having the duty to safeguard the sector in every aspect from whoever has any ulterior motives which could harm voluntary work and the sector itself."