Once more, in light of the arrest and prosecution of two Maltese men involved in a major global child pornography racket some time ago, calls have grown for the government to make Malta's sex offender registry more accessible.
In the meantime I have come to seriously question whether this registry is truly serving its purpose.
It may seem like common sense that allowing the public to know the whereabouts of dangerous people should increase community safety. As in many areas of criminal justice, the real story is more complicated.
Leaving aside for one moment the political appeal of being seen to crack down on crime, could it be that the registry is doing more harm than good? While it may have a small general deterrent effect on first-time offenders, it doesn't appear to reduce recidivism. Further, despite having strong public support, it is having a profound effect on levels of fear in the community.
What's more, the manner in which the system is run can have other, unintended, consequences, including creating community panic and vigilante attacks.
It's time to have a register of sex offenders with unlimited access to the public in the same way as the public has in the USA, South Korea and the Maldives. Because a court has decided to place a convicted sex offender on the register, deeming the individual to pose a threat to minors, this becomes imperative in cases, for example, where offenders have either failed to comply with their reporting obligations, provided false or misleading information to police or whose whereabouts aren't known to police.
Knowing who they are and where convicted sex offenders live may allow people to organise their lives and their children's to reduce the risk of harm.
There is felt the need to break down the bureaucratic barriers and to introduce fairer and reasonable checks and balances.
Strengthening food allergy laws in Malta
Since 2014, with the Food Information for Consumers Regulation, Regulation (EU) No. 1169/11, restaurants and takeaways in Malta are obliged to tell customers if their food contains ingredients known to trigger allergies. Staff must provide information on 14 everyday allergens, including nuts, milk, celery, gluten, soya and wheat. The legal requirement covers meals served in bakeries, cafes, care homes and packaged produce sold by supermarkets.
There may be fines for repeat offenders.
For people with food allergies, dining out can be stressful and, in some cases, life-threatening or fatal. We have had more than one case of food allergy needing treatment in the hospital for severe allergic reactions, with some cases being fatal. Most of those deaths and visits to the hospital were avoidable, and some were a result of people being given incorrect information about ingredients.
EU law entitles customers to be told if their food contains any celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, soya or sulphur dioxide.
All well and good, but how many inspections and enforcements are carried out by the respective health authorities is another matter.
The real problem is that often, waiters don't take allergies seriously, or they don't know what ingredients are in their dishes. I know of some people who had to leave important events, including weddings, because the waiter didn't check exactly what was in the food and thought they were just being fussy.
Proper enforcement will enable people to eat out confidently, knowing that allergens are monitored in dishes and that the regulations are being followed.
Over and above this, I would dare suggest an additional regulation whereby restaurants and eateries, most of all, would be required to have readily available on their premises an adrenaline auto-injector together with someone from the staff who is trained to administer it.
Normally, if someone is having a mild allergic reaction, an antihistamine tablet or syrup can be very effective. However, the medication will take at least 15 minutes to work.
But if the reaction is systemic (all over) and life-threatening, the use of an adrenaline auto-injector can save lives. It is far better to give adrenaline and not to have needed it than to give it too late.
World UFO day
Recently, I found out that July 2nd of every year is marked as World UFO Day. Now could be a good time for us to start seriously addressing the unsettling and refreshing fact that we may not be alone. I believe we, and our government, need to face the possibility that some of the strange flying objects seen over our country that outperform the best aircraft in the world and defy explanation may indeed be visitors from afar, and there is plenty of evidence to support these UFO sightings.
Anything that enters our airspace that is not supposed to be there is a threat. If these were possibly tactical jets from another country that were hanging out up there, it would be a massive issue. But because it looks slightly different, nobody is willing to actually look the problem in the face. We are happy to just ignore the fact that these are out there, watching us every day, and, yes, the truth is out there.
But then, beyond the whole truth about UFOs, perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognise this common bond of mankind. I occasionally think about how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.
Dr. Mark Said is a lawyer