Former Education Minister Clarence Terceira yesterday backed the "ban corporal punishment'' lobby.

He also announced his support for video-taping interviews of children suspected of being abused.

And he said the Health and Social Services Ministry supported mandatory reporting of child abuse by people who work with youngsters.

He warned, however, mandatory reporting would increase the workload on the Department of Child and Family Services.

Dr. Terceira, now Health and Social Services Minister, was speaking during the "take note'' debate on the report of the Government-appointed Task Force on Child Abuse.

One of the report's most controversial recommendations is to ban corporal punishment from Government and private schools and from all institutions providing care or accommodation for children.

According to the report, beating was a "brutal'' activity declared as cruel and unusual punishment by the International Court of Human Rights.

The report added research showed that children subjected to physical punishment behaved more aggressively than those who were not.

Dr. Terceira, who stressed the importance of parenting, said he supported the recommendation, adding: "I still feel violence begets violence.

"People brought up in a violent environment think it's a natural way for people to act.'' But he warned supporters of a ban faced an uphill battle in persuading others in Government.

"I will try to bring my influence to bear on this issue,'' he told the House of Assembly.

The report of the Task Force -- headed by lawyer and former Attorney General Saul Froomkin -- contained 52 recommendations, the bulk of which Dr. Terceira said his Ministry supported. And many had been adopted.

He appealed for MPs who were lawyers to give their thoughts, particularly on recommendations relating to the Evidence Act and the Criminal Code.

One of them was for the amending the Evidence Act 1905, thus removing a need for corroboration in court of a child's unsworn testimony.

Dr. Terceira added the Attorney General's Chambers had difficulties with a recommendation for the adoption of Section 55 (7) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (UK), which forbids unrepresented defendants from personally examining child witnesses.

It was felt such a move could be unconstitutional, he said.

The Task Force report is scathing about the ability of Government and community-based services to combat child abuse.

Poor staffing and insensitivity among child care professionals -- including the Police -- are also spotlighted. And the Island's medical and hospital services come under pressure to boost assessment of child sexual abuse victims.

The recommendations, backed by the Health Ministry, include: Sweeping away the The Protection of Children Act 1943, and replacing it with The Children Act 1989 of the United Kingdom; and providing extra social work staff in Family Services and training them to be sensitive.

Among other suggestions, which have also received support, are: Hiring additional staff in Child and Family Services, Child and Adolescent Services, and Community and Juvenile Services Department; The Attorney General appointing an experienced and specially trained Crown Counsel to deal with matters relating to children; and the AG developing a child witness preparation programme such as those in other Countries, and reviewing all laws affecting youngsters.

The Task Force also recommended a child abuse survey among students in the final year of secondary school be carried out in five years and done periodically thereafter.

And it suggested a body be set up for keeping child abuse statistics.

The Task Force on Child Abuse was appointed in November 1993 by then Social Services Minister Quinton Edness.

Before yesterday's debate, Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Renee Webb protested that appendices to the Task Force's report had not been presented to MPs.

She demanded the appendices -- containing submissions by organisations who contributed to the report -- should be made available before the debate.

Premier Pamela Gordon intervened to say the appendices would be tabled straight away.

At the outset of the debate, Dr. Terceira said the issue of child abuse touched off strong emotions throughout Bermuda.

It was difficult for ordinary people to imagine what on earth went on in the minds of child abusers.

Dr. Terceira said children's allegations should not be placed aside.

"We must listen to the child.'' Dr. Terceira, however, spoke of the problems of child abuse hoaxes.

He said someone recently complained publicly that a child was being abused -- but the allegation turned out to be unfounded after the parents were interviewed and the child examined.

Anybody making such hoax calls should be punished, he added.

One of the initial difficulties the Task Force faced was the definition of a child, said Dr.Terceira.

The Task Force finally agreed a "child'' was a person who had not reached 18.

Dr. Terceira heaped praise on the Task Force saying the report was exceptional, probably the best he had ever read in Parliament.

Turning to the recommendations, Dr. Terceira backed calls for a regular child abuse survey of secondary school children in their fifth year.

"Surveys should be continuous,'' he said.

Dr. Terceira also agreed with the suggestion that treatment providers in the public and private sector should be licensed.

"This is very necessary. We must upgrade the providers of treatment.'' The suggestion for compelling child care professionals to report to the Department of Child and Family Services when they suspected abuse was welcome too, Dr. Terceira continued.

He said legislation would be reviewed with the aim of bringing this about.

Dr. Terceira, however, said mandatory reporting would increase the workload on child care professionals and there were fears about a breach of confidentiality.

He said he knew of one paediatrician who had raised such concerns before coming round to the idea of mandatory reporting.

Ms Webb said child abuse was an issue of violence and was topical considering the death of two children at the hands of their parents recently.

She said she knew the Task Force had made numerous recommendations but admitted she was not sure where Government stood on some of them.

Ms Webb noted that the Task Force was appointed in November, 1993, and the report was completed in April, 1996, so some of the information in it was obsolete now that it had come to the House almost 15 months later.

She said she was disappointed that Government had not provided some "vision'' as to what it planned to implement and how much it would spend -- considering how much time it had to examine the report.

Ms Webb said she was disappointed that the report failed to look at the issue of violence and what social issues caused people to be more violent.

Essentially, the report looked at the effect of child abuse and not the cause, she continued. It should have considered those factors, said Ms Webb.

"We do not want any more dead children to show us the problem of child abuse.'' Ms Webb called for anti-violence programmes to be put in place so as to address the causes of child abuse.

Another disappointment in the report, continued Ms Webb, was that the Education Department were invited to be involved in the process but did not take part.

"This is the organisation in the community that is entrusted with our children from 9 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.. If there were any signs of abuse they would pick it up so why were they not involved?'' Ms Webb noted that mandatory reporting -- which she said she supported -- would increase the number of abuse cases which needed to be handled.

She said she hoped Government would make the necessary funds available to provide the resources to deal with the increased caseload.

A problem the Task Force had faced, continued Ms Webb, was the inconsistencies in the statutory definitions of a young person which ranged from under 13 years of age to under 21 years of age.

The report had used under 18 years of age as their definition of a child.

Another problem, she continued, was the limited statistical information the task force was able to glean from the various agencies they contacted which prevented a clear picture of the prevalence of child abuse in Bermuda.

She called for statistics to start being kept. "Government can not be remiss in their efforts to get on the bandwagon and get things done. It is time to get serious. It is better late than never.'' Ms Webb pointed out that the report indicated that victims of child abuse often knew their abusers and, quite often, the attacks took place in the children's homes.

This was another reason why the causes of child abuse demanded more attention than the effects and why programmes needed to be in place as children should be able to feel safe in their own homes.

Ms Webb also stressed the need for treatment -- whatever the cost. Offenders needed treatment to stop them from repeating and victims also needed treatment to get over the trauma.

To underline this, Ms Webb pointed out that many offenders had been abused when they were children and had never received treatment.

She then turned her attention to the report's comment that there was a lack of sensitivity over child abuse on the Island.

Often this was because people dealing with child abuse were not adequately trained and this needed to be addressed whether the people involved belonged to Government or community agencies.

And she pointed out that the report recommended improving the response time of the education system, hospital and Police Service to cases and reports of child abuse.

Ms Webb resumed her call for an independent inquiry into the death of toddler D'shun Dill. This was not intended to punish anyone involved but to improve the system and rectify any problems, she stressed.

Other points mentioned in the report were the lack of social workers to investigate and intervene in cases of child abuse and the lack of a support or follow up service, said Ms Webb, and these needed to be addressed.

She noted also that relatives willing to look after child abuse victims being removed from their homes should receive financial aid from Government as it would keep the child in a family situation which would help them deal with their trauma.

Ms Webb also went on to say the perception that courts are reluctant to prosecute child abuse also has to change.

Training she said, of all those involved in the issue is a must. Also critical was a recommendation for mandatory reporting of child abuse by caregivers.

Meanwhile as the taskforce represents a progressive step, Ms Webb took aim at the use of corporal punishment -- still allowed for in Bermuda's education act -- as a contradiction of the aims of the taskforce.

"Violence begets violence'' she said, noting not only has the taskforce has called for the abolition of corporal punishment, it has been abolished in almost all "western'' countries.

Every year some 2,000 children are either witness to, or a victim of child abuse in some form, she said. At the same time ten-percent of Bermudian household fall below the poverty line.

Quoting more statistics, Ms Webb added 80 percent of female alcoholics and drug addicts are reported to be victims of child abuse.

Those figures only make recommendations such as mandatory reporting and professional training all the more important.

Meanwhile Government still has to address the social problems which give rise to crimes such as child abuse.

Poverty, poor housing, teenage pregnancy, and drugs are major contributing factors. It's a not only a question of intervention and treatment said Ms Webb, it's a question of prevention.

Rising to make her maiden speech in the House, Paget East M.P. Kim Young (UBP) agreed with Ms Webb on the issue of mandatory reporting.

Meanwhile children learn what they live, said Ms Young. Fifty percent of victims grow up to abuse their own children while boys are predominantly victims of physical abuse while girls are victims of sexual abuse.

The House has a leadership role to play, she said. She also requested the Minister examine ways to protect those adults who are operating at the mental capacity of children.

Continued in Monday's newspaper CLARENCE TERCEIRA -- "I still feel violence begets violence. People brought up in a violent environment think it's a natural way for people to act.''