Spain introduces stricter controls on working with children

A NEW law approved in July will set up a Spanish register of convicted sex offenders, and require anyone working with children to provide a certificate showing they have no convictions.
The new stipulations aim to put an end to cases like the one that hit the news last year of a convicted child abuser who had been working in Pulpi, Almeria for almost five years as a paediatrician.
Currently serving a four-year jail sentence in Colombia for abusing a nine-year-old child, 42-year-old Carlos Alexander Rodriguez managed to flee the South American country with his 13-year-old son and set up home in Almeria, where nobody asked about his past, not even the Andalucian Health Service before giving him a job.
Almeria awaits the extradition of Carlos Alexander, who will be brought back to Spain after completing his sentence in Colombia and tried for four alleged child abuse cases.
The new Children and Teenagers Protection Law aims to address these cases by creating a Central Register of Sexual Offenders, which will include confidential identity and genetic profile information on all convicted offenders.
Upon applying for posts in any work involving contact with children, applicants will have to provide a certificate proving they do not figure on the new register.