DISY deputy Stella Kyriakidou said other countries like the UK publish the names of paedophiles.
“Abroad, the names of people found guilty of paedophilia are published so there is this policy of protection,” Kyriakidou told state radio.
She said there are cases where offenders are convicted but then re-offend.
Kyriakidou said she will have a meeting with children ’s rights commissioner Leda Koursoumba to discuss the matter.
The island was left in shock on Thursday after the emergence of two separate cases of child molestation and rape involving at least nine underage girls.
In the first case a 42-year-old man is suspected of indecently assaulting at least eight girls aged six to 12 by luring them to his house using his pet dog.
The alleged crimes took place between November 2009 and earlier this month.
The man has been remanded in custody for eight days.
The second case involves a 38-year-old Greek national who has been arrested in connection with the rape, corruption and sexual exploitation of an 11-year-old girl he met on social networking site Facebook.
Reports said the man has confessed to having sexual contact with the girl but argued that she had told him she was older.
The Head of the Police Cybercrime Unit Marcos Nicolettis said the situation was worrying.
“For the whole year in 2009 we had four cases while we have four cases in the first three months of 2010, “Nicolettis said.
Nicolettis said parents have to explain to their children the dangers from using the Internet and avoid unsupervised surfing for children under 13 or 14.
The head of the Cybercrime squad said children under these ages should not have personal profiles on social networking sites.
“Internet corruptors try gradually and methodically to win the trust of their future victims,” Nicolettis said.
He warned however that chatting was not the only danger on the Internet, which is rife with pornographic and other harmful material.
Nicolettis suggested that children should not be allowed to have computers in their bedrooms while parents could also procure special filters to limit access to various websites.
By George Psyllides, Published by Cyprus Mail on April 10, 2010
