A controversial holiday camp operator, who offers multi-day holiday camps for children aged five to 12 years, despite a previous child abuse conviction in Eastern Austria that has since been reimbursed in 2010, also worked for the Austrian Alpine Club (AV).
Until recently, the certified outdoor guide and climbing instructor gave courses for children from eight to twelve years on one part. According to the current state of knowledge, there were no attacks or suspected cases, assured Nicole Slupetzky, vice president of the ÖAV and federal youth leader. The man did not lead a total of four outdoor courses at the main club level, but volunteered for a section, the last in May last year.
Collaboration has already ended
It was only the week before that they became aware of his past life in the course of media reports. The collaboration has now ended. As Slupetzky emphasized, a few years ago the ÖAV developed a prevention concept in the field of protection against violence, which people feel obliged to: “We have been working intensively on it for a long time. We do everything we can to prevent attacks on children in particular. ”
PES: Impossible to control every employee
Apart from that, the ÖAV as a voluntary association with 11,000 voluntary employees, including approximately 2000 in child and youth work, cannot possibly check every employee for safety, especially since in the specific case the criminal record of the man had already been erased, would not have appeared. “In the interest of protecting victims, we should not be asked to check whether volunteers in the child and youth work have a smooth history,” said the Vice-President of the ÖAV. The legislator sees it rather as an obligation.
In an interview with the APA, she spoke out in favor of a blanket ban on employment and activity in child and youth work for those with previous convictions for child abuse and similar crimes: “We need a resource that protects children and young people.” Because of the occasion, the ÖAV will evaluate and improve the prevention concept and insist on an up-to-date extract from the criminal record, “but in principle a conviction in the field of abuse would mean that a person should no longer be allowed to work in child and youth work. That would really help us.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
