KUALA LUMPUR: Most complaints of child sexual abuse in Malaysia do not lead to successful prosecutions, largely due to weaknesses in the nation’s criminal justice system, police, lawmakers and child welfare groups say.

According to classified data Malaysian police compiled and shared with Reuters, 12,987 cases of child sexual abuse were reported to police between January 2012 and July of this year. Charges were filed in 2,189 cases, resulting in just 140 convictions.

The data doesn’t show how many people were involved, or what happened in the cases where there were no convictions after charges were filed. No details were disclosed in the cases where there were convictions.

Child rights advocates have long pushed the government to publicly disclose data on child sexual abuse to increase awareness so action can be taken to address what they call a growing problem.

A veil was lifted in June when a British court handed Richard Huckle 22 life sentences for abusing up to 200 babies and children, mostly in Malaysia, and sharing images of his crimes on the dark web. The reason the Malaysian government doesn’t publish child sexual abuse data is because it is protected under Malaysia’s Official Secrets Act.

The government provides data on child abuse only at the request of a member of Parliament.

“We don’t want people to misinterpret it,” said Ong Chin Lan, the head of the Sexual, Women and Children Investigation Division of the Malaysian national police.

The government doesn’t want to unduly alarm the public about possibly high numbers of child abuse cases, she explained.

It is unclear how Malaysia’s number of reported cases compares with its neighbours, some of whom are also reluctant to disclose a high incidence of child sexual abuse.

A senior health ministry official, who did not want to be identified, said it could ‘make Thailand look bad’.

Cambodia, long known as a destination for travelling paedophiles, also does not disclose official data.

Weak policing and child protection laws make it difficult to punish child abusers in Malaysia, leading to inadequate investigations and low convictions on the reported cases, according to officials and child welfare groups Reuters interviewed.

They also say a significant number of child sexual abuse cases are never reported because of taboos around child sex abuse and mistrust of authorities.

In 17 years of operation, PS the Children, Malaysia’s biggest non-governmental organisation (NGO) dealing with child abuse, has seen zero convictions on the cases it has handled, its founder Madeleine Yong told Reuters.

“There needs to be improvement in the criminal justice system if we want to encourage more people to report, otherwise we will re-victimize the child,” she said.

Ong at the sexual crimes unit said police take every case of child sexual abuse seriously and “all cases are investigated in detail”.

Police blame weak laws and rules governing court evidence that give little weight to children’s testimony as the reason most cases never result in charges.

Malaysia does not have a law specifically prohibiting child pornography and defines rape narrowly as penile penetration. ‘Grooming’ – touching and befriending children as a prelude to sexual abuse – draws no legal penalties.

By contrast, Indonesia’s parliament has passed legislation authorising chemical castration, minimum sentences and even execution for convicted paedophiles.

A Child Sexual Crimes Bill, expected to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year, would widen the definition of sexual crimes to include online abuse, and make such crimes easier to prosecute. It would also set up a special court to deal with child sex abuse cases more quickly.

Foreign paedophiles could be targeting Malaysia as other countries around the region strengthen child protection laws and step up enforcement, some experts said.

Snow White Smelser, programme officer at the child sex offences team in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) East Asia headquarters in Bangkok, said paedophiles compare notes and share information online about countries, where they can operate most freely.

Elena Martellozzo, a London-based criminologist who specializes in child sex abuse on the internet, said Huckle could have chosen Malaysia “because it was not on the radar, or perhaps it’s where he found it easier to get work permits, visas and some work opportunities”.

Typically, children are sexually abused by someone they know – a neighbour, a relative, a caregiver, or someone like Huckle, who according to court testimony groomed children in an impoverished ethnic Indian neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur.

But increasingly, paedophile activity is moving into the online world, police say.

Australian detectives who investigate paedophiles in the region believe Malaysia has become one of Southeast Asia’s biggest centres for the transmission of child pornography on the Internet.

Team Argos, the Australian detective unit that found Huckle in the dark web in late 2014, made a startling discovery from the team’s scouring of online paedophile networks: the unusual number of internet addresses in the Kuala Lumpur area transmitting child sexual abuse material from the dark web.

The dark web is a vast virtual space within the Internet, which requires special encryption tools to access. The Brisbane, Australia-based detectives found 1,000 transmissions of child pornographic materials from the Malaysian capital over a 24-hour period last year, according to Argos data provided by the UNODC.

It was the second-largest transmission location in Southeast Asia after Bangkok’s 1,800 – Bangkok’s population of 8.2 million is more than four times that of Kuala Lumpur’s.

The Malaysian capital is a ‘high concern’ location for the distribution of child sexual abuse materials, said Smelser at the UNODC. Ong at the child sex crime unit said Malaysian police can’t properly monitor the encrypted paedophile networks.

“We do not have expertise in handling the dark web. We get alerted from our counterparts overseas,” she said. — Reuters </s> KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Most complaints of child sexual abuse in Malaysia do not lead to successful prosecutions, largely due to weaknesses in the nation’s criminal justice system, police, lawmakers and child welfare groups say.

A view of the skyline of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur September 21, 2010. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/File Photo

According to classified data Malaysian police compiled and shared with Reuters, 12,987 cases of child sexual abuse were reported to police between January 2012 and July of this year. Charges were filed in 2,189 cases, resulting in just 140 convictions.

The data doesn’t show how many people were involved, or what happened in the cases where there were no convictions after charges were filed. No details were disclosed in the cases where there were convictions.

Child rights advocates have long pushed the government to publicly disclose data on child sexual abuse to increase awareness so action can be taken to address what they call a growing problem.

A veil was lifted in June when a British court handed Richard Huckle 22 life sentences for abusing up to 200 babies and children, mostly in Malaysia, and sharing images of his crimes on the dark web.

The reason the Malaysian government doesn’t publish child sexual abuse data is because it is protected under Malaysia’s Official Secrets Act. The government provides data on child abuse only at the request of a member of parliament.

“We don’t want people to misinterpret it,” said Ong Chin Lan, the head of the Sexual, Women and Children Investigation Division of the Malaysian national police. The government doesn’t want to unduly alarm the public about possibly high numbers of child abuse cases, she explained.

It is unclear how Malaysia’s number of reported cases compares with its neighbors, some of whom are also reluctant to disclose a high incidence of child sexual abuse.

Thailand’s government declined to provide data to Reuters. A senior health ministry official, who did not want to be identified, said it could “make Thailand look bad”.

Cambodia, long known as a destination for traveling pedophiles, also does not disclose official data.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE WEAKNESS

Weak policing and child protection laws make it difficult to punish child abusers in Malaysia, leading to inadequate investigations and low convictions on the reported cases, according to officials and child welfare groups Reuters interviewed.

They also say a significant number of child sexual abuse cases are never reported because of taboos around child sex abuse and mistrust of authorities.

In 17 years of operation, PS the Children, Malaysia’s biggest NGO dealing with child abuse, has seen zero convictions on the cases it has handled, its founder Madeleine Yong told Reuters.

“There needs to be improvement in the criminal justice system if we want to encourage more people to report, otherwise we will re-victimize the child,” she said.

Ong at the sexual crimes unit said police take every case of child sexual abuse seriously and “all cases are investigated in detail”.

Police blame weak laws and rules governing court evidence that give little weight to children’s testimony as the reason most cases never result in charges.

Malaysia does not have a law specifically prohibiting child pornography and defines rape narrowly as penile penetration. “Grooming” - touching and befriending children as a prelude to sexual abuse - draws no legal penalties.

By contrast, Indonesia’s parliament has passed legislation authorizing chemical castration, minimum sentences and even execution for convicted pedophiles. Thailand introduced stricter laws against child pornography last year.

A Child Sexual Crimes bill, expected to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year, would widen the definition of sexual crimes to include online abuse, and make such crimes easier to prosecute. It would also set up a special court to deal with child sex abuse cases more quickly.

THE DARK WEB

Foreign pedophiles could be targeting Malaysia as other countries around the region strengthen child protection laws and step up enforcement, some experts said.

Snow White Smelser, program officer at the child sex offences team in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) East Asia headquarters in Bangkok, said pedophiles compare notes and share information online about countries, where they can operate most freely.

Elena Martellozzo, a London-based criminologist who specializes in child sex abuse on the internet, said Huckle could have chosen Malaysia “because it was not on the radar, or perhaps it’s where he found it easier to get work permits, visas and some work opportunities”.

Typically, children are sexually abused by someone they know - a neighbor, a relative, a caregiver, or someone like Huckle, who according to court testimony groomed children in an impoverished ethnic Indian neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur.

But increasingly, pedophile activity is moving into the online world, police say.

Australian detectives who investigate pedophiles in the region believe Malaysia has become one of Southeast Asia’s biggest centers for the transmission of child pornography on the Internet.

Team Argos, the Australian detective unit that found Huckle in the dark web in late 2014, made a startling discovery from the team’s scouring of online pedophile networks: the unusual number of internet addresses in the Kuala Lumpur area transmitting child sexual abuse material from the dark web.

The dark web is a vast virtual space within the Internet, which requires special encryption tools to access.

The Brisbane, Australia-based detectives found 1,000 transmissions of child pornographic materials from the Malaysian capital over a 24-hour period last year, according to Argos data provided by the UNODC.

Slideshow (2 Images)

It was the second-largest transmission location in Southeast Asia after Bangkok’s 1,800 - Bangkok’s population of 8.2 million is more than four times that of Kuala Lumpur’s.

The Malaysian capital is a “high concern” location for the distribution of child sexual abuse materials, said Smelser at the UNODC.

Ong at the child sex crime unit said Malaysian police can’t properly monitor the encrypted pedophile networks. “We do not have expertise in handling the dark web. We get alerted from our counterparts overseas,” she said. </s> A child sex abuse site on the Dark Web has been busted in an international operation led by Interpol.

Dubbed Operation Blackwrist, named after a bracelet worn by one of the offenders, the two-year operation led to the arrest and prosecution of nine offenders in Australia, Thailand and the US.

In a media release yesterday, Interpol said the operation was launched in 2017 following the discovery of material depicting the abuse of 11 boys, all under 13 years old.

The material was from a website with about 63,000 subscribers worldwide.

For years, the site published new material weekly, with great care taken to avoid detection by masking the children.

Investigators from Thailand, the United States, Bulgaria, New Zealand and Australia worked on the case together, identifying the victims and offenders. Then in January last year, the authorities swooped in.

They conducted simultaneous arrests of the site's administrators in Australia and Thailand.

The main administrator, Montri Salangam, was based in Thailand.

He was the man seen abusing the 11 boys, including his own nephew.

Interpol said the children were lured to his home with meals, Internet access and football games.

A second administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was based in Australia.

Police found thousands of images taken in both Thailand and Australia on his devices.

The youngest of his victims was just 15 months old.

Investigations stemming from the arrests of the two led to further arrests in Australia, Thailand and the United States.

The authorities were able to remove 50 victims from harm, but believe there are at least 100 more unidentified children who were also abused.

Last year, the Thai courts jailed Salangam for 146 years.

Another offender, an unnamed nursery school teacher who was arrested during the operation, was jailed 36 years.

Last week, Tokputza was jailed 40 years and three months in Australia, making it the longest sentence handed out by the country for child sex offences.

Further arrests and rescues are expected in the next few years, as the authorities in 60 countries are now examining the evidence which has been shared through the Interpol International Child Sexual Exploitation database.

Interpol secretary General Jürgen Stock said he welcomed the successful prosecutions and lauded the co-operation between the law enforcement agencies of the different countries.

"Every child abuse image is evidence of a crime and Interpol will always provide its full support to officers on the ground to help identify and rescue victims around the world," he said.

"Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice." </s> A two-year international operation involving police from Australia, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Thailand and the US and coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrest of nine alleged child sex offenders in Thailand, the US and Australia.

The investigation — called Operation Blackwrist — was launched in 2017 after police found material showing the abuse of 11 boys, all below the age of 13, by an online international pedophilia ring operating on the dark web on a subscription basis.

Dark web sites cannot be found via search engines, and access requires typing in the specific URL address.

Police said 50 children were rescued, with around 100 more suspected of having suffered abuse. Police are working to identify the victims.

"Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice," Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock said in a statement.

Interpol stressed that international cooperation in fighting child sexual abuse was key as pedophilia networks tended to be "transnational."

In early 2018, police made the first arrests, capturing the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam in Thailand. He was seen abusing the 11 boys, one of whom was his nephew. Another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was detained in Australia.

In June that year, Salangam was sentenced to 146 years in prison for child rape, human trafficking as well as possession and distribution of child sex abuse material by a Thai court. Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Australia. </s> BANGKOK: Fifty children abused by sex offenders operating a website from locations including Thailand and Australia have been removed from harm as part of an international operation coordinated by Interpol.

Named Operation Blackwrist after a bracelet worn by one of the sexual predators, the international investigation began when Interpol’s Crimes Against Children unit discovered photographs and videos showing the abuse of 11 boys on the dark web two years ago. All of them were under 13 years old.

According to Interpol, the materials originated from a subscription-based website with nearly 63,000 users worldwide. Each week, the site would publish new abusive materials. The victims’ identity would be masked to allow only a few visual and audio clues.

The abuse discovered by Interpol was carried out by the site’s main administrator in Thailand's Surin province - Montri Salangam - who lured the children to his home with meals, Internet access and football games. One of the victims is his own nephew.

“The investigation took six months before we could identified the victims in Surin. The website sharing abusive images has revealed a link with Australia's Adelaide. Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), as a result, worked with the Australian police to arrest a suspect in Australia on the same day we arrested the suspect in Thailand, Jan 16, 2018,” said Police Captain Kemachart Prakaihongmanee from DSI.

The first victims were identified in November 2017, followed by arrests in Thailand, Australia and the United States. Among the offenders was a second site administrator based in Australia - Ruecha Tokputza. His confiscated devices revealed thousands of images taken in Thailand and Australia, some of which showed him as the main abuser.

Both the abusers have been sentenced for their crimes. In June last year, Thai courts handed Salangam 146 years in prison on charges of child rape, human trafficking, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials.

On May 17, Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years and three months in prison - the longest jail sentence ever imposed in Australia for child sex offences. He was described by an Australian judge as “every child’s worst nightmare” and “every parent’s horror”.

Besides the 50 victims already identified, police believe there are still 100 more who have suffered sexual abuse. Investigators are currently trying to identify them as they continue to comb through devices and chat groups, website users and offenders. As for the abusive images and videos seized, they have been uploaded to Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation database.

"Every image is evidence of a crime. It's important to work on these images to identify the crime," said Interpol’s criminal intelligence officer Cecilia Wallin. "One of the unit's main purposes is to identify the victims through images and videos. We do that through a global network."

According to Eric McLoughlin from the US Homeland Security Investigations in Bangkok, Operation Blackwrist has led to numerous arrests in the US involving individuals occupying “positions of public trust”, and another one who was also abusing his two-year-old stepbrother.

The operation is a sophisticated and collaborative effort involving security and intelligence officers from nearly 60 countries worldwide, including those from Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations (DSI) who took on the case in June 2017.



Following Interpol’s discovery of child sexual abuse materials produced in Thailand, US investigators identified the website IP address before Bulgaria’s Cybercrime Department took down the website’s server.



In New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs compiled information on website users for Interpol member countries. Email addresses were then cross-checked by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and additional intelligence was provided.

An IP address pointed to a location in Adelaide, prompting the Australian police to join the operation.

"This kind of investigation shows two things," said acting deputy assistant director of the HIS David Magdycz.

"To the criminals, wherever you are in the world, you cannot hide," he added. "And victims have a voice." </s> (CNN) — Interpol has saved 50 children and prosecuted nine sex offenders after uncovering an international pedophile ring that was sharing child abuse images on the dark web.

Police believe there are still 100 children who have not yet been located, Interpol said in a press release Thursday, adding that it expected to make more arrests and rescues.

Offenders have already been prosecuted in Thailand, Australia and the United States, Interpol said, and police in nearly 60 countries are involved in the investigation.

In the report, Interpol said it launched “Operation Blackwrist” in 2017 after discovering material depicting the abuse of 11 boys all aged under 13 on the dark web, a part of the internet that cannot be found by mainstream search engines. The images were on a subscription-based website that published new images weekly to almost 63,000 users worldwide.

In June 2017, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations (DSI) took on the case, working closely with Interpol’s Liaison Bureau in Bangkok and investigators around the world including in the United States, Bulgaria, New Zealand and Australia.

The first victims were identified in November that same year, leading to arrests in Thailand and Australia two months later.

In June 2018, the website’s main administrator, Thailand-based Montri Salangam, was sentenced to 146 years in prison on charges of child rape and human trafficking. He had abused 11 boys — including his nephew — and had lured children to his home with meals, internet access and football games.

A nursery school teacher who was close to Tokputza was sentenced to 36 years in prison on the same charges.

In May 2019, Ruecha Tokputza, an Australia-based website administrator, received 40 years and three months in prison, the longest sentence ever imposed in the country for child sex offenses. Police found thousands of images taken in Thailand and Australia on his devices, some of which featured Tokputza as the main abuser. The youngest victim depicted was only 15 months old.

The judge in that case referred to Tokputa as “every child’s worst nightmare” and “every parent’s horror.”

Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said the investigation sent a clear message to those abusing children or sharing child sexual exploitation material: “We see you, and you will be brought to justice.”

“Every child abuse image is evidence of a crime,” he said. </s> BANGKOK: A child sex abuse network operating a website from locations including Thailand and Australia has been busted by Interpol, with 50 victims identified so far, the youngest of which was aged 15 months.

Named Operation Blackwrist after a bracelet worn by one of the sexual predators, the international investigation began after Interpol’s Crimes Against Children unit discovered photographs and videos showing the abuse of 11 boys on the Dark Web two years ago. All of the boys were under 13 years old.

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According to Interpol, the materials originated from a subscription-based website with nearly 63,000 users worldwide. Each week, the site would publish new abusive material. The victims’ identity would be masked to allow only a few visual and audio clues.

CHILDREN LURED BY MEALS, INTERNET ACCESS

The abuse was carried out by the site’s main administrator in Thailand's Surin province - Montri Salangam - who lured the children to his home in a remote community with meals, Internet access and football games. One of the victims is his own nephew.

“The investigation took six months before we could identify the victims in Surin. The website sharing abusive images has revealed a link with Australia's Adelaide. Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), as a result, worked with the Australian police to arrest a suspect in Australia on the same day we arrested the suspect in Thailand, Jan 16, 2018,” said Police Captain Kemachart Prakaihongmanee from DSI.

Officers collect evidence from Salangam's home. (Photo: Interpol)

The first victims were identified in November 2017, followed by arrests in Thailand, Australia and the United States.

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Among the offenders was a second site administrator based in Australia - a Thai-Australian named Ruecha Tokputza.

His confiscated devices revealed thousands of images taken in Thailand and Australia, some of which showed him as the main abuser. The victims are mostly Australian children aged between 15 months and 12 years.

Both the abusers have been sentenced for their crimes.

In June last year, Thai courts handed Salangam 146 years in prison on charges of child rape, human trafficking, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials. His sentence was later reduced to 50 years. He also has to pay five victims 500,000 baht (US$15,600) each as compensation.

On May 17, Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years and three months in prison - the longest jail sentence ever imposed in Australia for child sex offences. He was described by an Australian judge as “every child’s worst nightmare” and “every parent’s horror”.

“During the investigation, our officers were confronted with 850,000 images and video files. They were then subjected to victim identification analysis. Some of the material depicted the Australian offender abusing multiple children and some are the most egregious offences,” said Mr Stephen Fry, senior liaison officer from the Australian Federal Police.

TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Besides the 50 victims already identified, police believe there are still 100 more who have suffered sexual abuse. Investigators are currently trying to identify them as they continue to comb through devices and chat groups, website users and offenders.

As for the abusive images and videos seized, they have been uploaded to Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation database.

"Every image is evidence of a crime. It's important to work on these images and work together to try to identify (the victims). And that is what we do. So, police officers around the world are uploading material to the international child sexual exploitation database," said Interpol’s criminal intelligence officer Cecilia Wallin. "One of the unit's main purposes is to identify the victims through images and videos. We do that through a global network."

According to Mr Eric McLoughlin from the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Bangkok, Operation Blackwrist has also led to four arrests in Virginia, Florida and New York in the United States.

The cases involve individuals occupying positions of public trust and those who had easy access to children. This includes a school teacher, and another individual who was also abusing his two-year-old stepbrother.

“The investigation is ongoing. This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Ms Wallin said, adding that the website's registered users come from almost every country, including Singapore. Nine offenders have been identified so far.

"Of the 63,000 registered users around the world, we can say that it contains almost every country. We sent information to 137 countries worldwide. So, definitely, in Singapore and any country, even in Africa," she said.

"The website was hosted in Bulgaria. They copied the server. They took it down with the assistance of Europol, and Interpol and Europol set up referral packages to all these countries."

Investigators at an operational meeting prior to the January 2018 arrests. (Photo: Interpol)

GIVING VICTIMS A VOICE

The operation is a collaborative effort involving security and intelligence officers from nearly 60 countries worldwide, including those from Thailand’s DSI who took on the case in June 2017.

Following Interpol’s discovery of child sexual abuse materials produced in Thailand, US investigators identified the website IP address before Bulgaria’s Cybercrime Department took down the website’s server.

In New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs compiled information on website users for Interpol member countries. Email addresses were then cross-checked by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and additional intelligence was provided.

An IP address pointed to a location in Adelaide, prompting the Australian police to join the operation.

Following Salangam’s arrest, the international collaboration led to two other major operations in Thailand’s Patthalung and Lampang. In the latter case, the offender was sentenced to 36 years and six months in jail. Police have also identified seven victims in a nursery where he was working.

"Investigations like these show two things,” said acting deputy assistant director of the HIS David Magdycz.

“They show the criminals that wherever you are in the world, you cannot hide, and law enforcement will track you down. Secondly, I think it shows that the victims have a voice. Law enforcement gives those victims a voice. Oftentimes, the victims of these crimes are young children and they don’t have a representative speak for them.” </s> The Australian investigation examined abuse in religious institutions, schools and other establishments, finding that many of the cases of suspected abuse involved Roman Catholic priests and religious brothers.

SYDNEY — Roman Catholic leaders in Australia on Friday rejected a government push to force priests to report accusations of child sexual abuse heard during confession, saying it would violate a sacred rite, infringe on religious freedom and do little to protect children.

The rebuke came as the local Roman Catholic Church issued a response to a five-year government inquiry uncovering what officials called a “national tragedy” of widespread sexual abuse of children spanning decades.

The investigation examined abuse in religious institutions, schools and other establishments, finding that many of the cases of suspected abuse involved Catholic priests and religious brothers.

Church officials sought to strike a largely conciliatory tone in their response, acknowledging the gravity of the church’s “colossal failures” to protect children and embracing the vast majority of the recommendations coming out of the inquiry. Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said Friday that the church’s leadership had made a pledge: “never again.”

Yet the church rejected the proposal to hold priests legally culpable for failing to tell authorities of acts of suspected abuse they hear about during confession. Laws that make a failure to report a criminal offense have already been introduced in some parts of the country.

“We believe the legislation abolishing priest privilege is based in fact on a lack of understanding of what actually happens in confession and tends to live in a purely hypothetical world,” Coleridge said at a news conference Friday.

“The bishops and leaders have the utmost respect for the law,” he added. “But we believe this proposed law is ill-conceived and impractical. It won’t make children safer and it will most likely undermine religious freedom.”

The response comes at a moment of extraordinary turmoil for the global church over its handling of widespread child sexual abuse reaching from the parish level to the highest tiers of the Catholic hierarchy.

The crisis flared last weekend when a former top Vatican diplomat urged Pope Francis to resign, accusing him of joining other leading officials in covering up abuse. It also follows a searing grand-jury report in Pennsylvania that found more than 1,000 identifiable victims of sexual abuse over several decades in local dioceses. That report was the broadest government examination in the United States into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

In 2012, Australia created a royal commission, the highest form of investigation in this country, to examine child sexual abuse across a range of institutions. The findings, released in December, revealed the country had been in the grips of an abuse epidemic that stretched over decades and involved more than 4,000 institutions.

Investigators identified 4,444 abuse victims and at least 1,880 suspected abusers from 1980 to 2015. The report said 62 percent of victims who said they were abused in a religious institution said the abuse took place in a Catholic facility.

Australians have been alarmed by revelations of sexual abuse in recent years, including a scandal in Ballarat, the hometown of Cardinal George Pell, one of the highest-ranking Catholic prelates to face trial for charges of historic sexual offenses. In that town, authorities said, a police officer investigating a pedophile ring at local Catholic schools found that as many as 30 abuse victims had killed themselves.

The commission issued 189 recommendations, including creating a National Office for Child Safety and calling on Australia’s Catholic leaders to press the Vatican to end mandatory celibacy for priests.

In its response Friday, the Australian Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia issued a report in which it accepted nearly all the commission’s recommendations. Local church leaders said they would consult Vatican officials on the matter of celibacy and consider ways to modify religious life.

But the report took issue with the recommendations involving confession, including a proposal that children practice the rite only in an open space within the clear line of sight of another adult, and lifting the seal of confession to report abuse allegations.

Church officials said their objection to reporting abuse cases applied only to the confessional, where there is an expectation that conversations are shielded. </s> Growing reports of child sex abuse in football stretching back decades could spread to other sports, police have warned.

Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for child protection, said a “significant” number of victims are likely to come forward following claims of assaults by coaches.

"I suspect that in the next few days and weeks that we will see a significant increase in the numbers that are currently reporting allegations of abuse to us,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

"We, as a country, are now having to deal with the legacy of non-recent sexual abuse and the thousands of allegations that we are now seeing across the country.

"We are receiving reports of abuse in all sorts of different institutions. I am not in the least bit surprised that we are now seeing the lid lifted on exploitation within the world of football and I suspect there will be other sporting governing bodies - again in the next few days and weeks - who will come forward and who will identify the fact that they have similar problems.”

Former Manchester City youth player Jason Dunford claimed the scandal was bigger than the Jimmy Savile revelations as reports continued to grow on Friday.

Four police forces are now investigating allegations of historical child sex abuse in football, with a national inquiry “watching events closely” as England captain Wayne Rooney urged anyone who may have been assaulted to seek help.

A string of former footballers have come forward since Andy Woodward became the first to speak out last week about abuse he suffered at the hands of convicted child abuser Barry Bennell, a former Crewe Alexandra coach.

Ex-England and Manchester City players David White and Paul Stewart and former Crewe player Steve Walters have also spoken out about being sexually abused by football coaches as children.

Mr Bailey said he hoped people would have the confidence to come forward in the knowledge that the response by police officers and society could be “very different” than in previous decades.

The Metropolitan Police, Hampshire Police and Cheshire police are investigating allegations of abuse in the football community, while Northumbria Police is handling an allegation by an unnamed former Newcastle United player that he was abused in the club's youth system.

Operation Hydrant, which oversees the investigation of allegations of historical child sex abuse within institutions or by prominent figures, is trying to pinpoint the scale of the alleged abuse.

It has been in touch with all forces in England and Wales asking them to forward details of the allegations they have received following the recent publicity.

The NSPCC has set up a dedicated helpline - on 0800 023 2642 - for football-related cases.
A report states that Malaysia does not successfully deal with child sexual abuse cases due to weaknesses in the nation's criminal justice system, and the country's failure to increase public awareness of this crime by not releasing relevant data.