NGOs Must Report All Abuses To Commissioner For Voluntary Organisations As Part Of New Policy
Jesmond Saliba, the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, has announced a new policy requiring NGOs to report to the Commission any allegations of abuse or aggression made by workers, volunteers or those receiving services.
The new policy will ensure that once received by the CVO, reports will be passed on to the police for investigation, so that instances of alleged abuse will be treated as potential crimes.
The previous policy – those instances being left to the internal investigations of people within voluntary organisations who could have a vested interest in keeping such abuses from the public eye – is no longer viable.
NGOs have been told to send emails disclosing all information about potential abuses to [email protected] – along with any volunteers or service receivers compelled to make anonymous reports of abuses or harassment experienced whilst interacting with an NGO.
While announcing this new policy, Saliba also revoked a previous suspension which had been issued to YMCA, given that it determined the homeless shelter NGO has safeguards in place which can adequately handle allegations of harassment or sexual abuse.
Recently, Saliba temporarily suspended YMCA Malta’s compliance with the Voluntary Organisations Act and reported them to the police after an accusation of sexual harassment was made against somebody involved with the organisation.
That ban has now been lifted, and though the police investigation is ongoing, YMCA is now able to continue its work, offer services to those in need, and raise money to fund normal operations.
It seems that NGOs were being given more leeway than was appropriate when it came to reporting potential abuses – and the introduction of this new policy has hopefully corrected that error.
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