learned yesterday just how outdated Bermuda's child protection laws are.

They also learned women's groups have come up against a brick wall in their efforts to obtain child abuse statistics from Police.

The more than 100 people attending the symposium applauded the proposal of a law that would require residents to report any cases of physical or sexual child abuse they were aware of.

Former crown counsel Mr. Andrejs Berzins QC, who now works in Canada, said such a law had been in effect in his country for more than a decade.

He pointed out, however, the law would probably open up a "floodgate of cases'' which the Island is currently ill equipped to deal with.

This prompted a representative of the Women's Resource Centre to tell the symposium the organisation had been unable to obtain statistics on child abuse and violence against women from Police.

Mrs. Susan Boyd said Police informed her they did not collect statistics in the categories sought and did not have the manpower to dig them out of their computers.

She was also told there was a problem with confidentiality. But Mrs. Boyd told the symposium the centre was seeking numbers not names.

She said the centre believed physical and sexual abuse of children was an "extremely large problem'' on the Island.

In his address Mr. Berzins called on Bermuda to resist "red-neck right- wing opinions'' to throw child abusers in jail.

He said more "creativity'' was needed in dealing with those who physically and sexually abuse boys and girls.

Said Mr. Berzins: "I am surprised at the lengthy jail terms routinely handed out here. I'd hate to be charged with any criminal offence in Bermuda -- it's a tough system.'' Mr. Berzins went on to tell the audience of the ways Canada has tackled child abuse.

When his country introduced the mandatory reporting law several years ago, he said there was a "dramatic'' surfacing of child abuse cases.

Everyone has a duty to report child abuse cases, he explained, and helping professionals face a penalty if they do not.

The only hitch was that child abusers may be reluctant to come forward and seek help for their problem. He suggested a solution may be to treat a person who voluntarily incriminates himself with a lesser penalty than if he had not.

He said Canada had made the criminal justice system "more responsible to the needs of victims'' by allowing video-taped statements and children to testify behind a screen or from another room via closed-circuit television.

Internationally acclaimed and innovative New Zealand legislation aimed at child welfare was also greeted with enthusiasm by the audience.

New Zealander and forensic social worker Mrs. Victoria Barnhill-Henson told the symposium that her country's 1989 legislation making child abuse a community problem had proved highly successful.

She said its aim was keeping victims and their families out of court and children out of foster care, both of which prove costly to the government.

Solutions and punishments are decided at an-out-of-court hearing by the victim's "whanau family'', which includes the immediate family as well as virtually anyone who cares for the child -- priests, neighbours, friends, teachers.

The system is carried out by highly trained and experienced social workers, she said.

Solicitor General Mr. Barrie Meade told the audience the "great debate'' was whether to amend or simply throw out the Protection of Children Act 1943.

He said proposals to amend the act included raising the age of a "child'' from 17 to 18 (the voting age), extending examples that give evidence a child was exposed to moral danger to include a parent abusing drugs in the child's presence, and giving a child the right to a lawyer in any proceeding.

In his address, Police Commissioner Mr. Lenny Edwards said there was a need for the Community and Juvenile Section to have its offices located away from Police headquarters where "the Police stigma'' would not be attached.

And Mr. Glen Caines of the Prison Fellowship said Bermuda had an "embarrassing'' recidivism rate and needed to move quickly towards restorative justice.

The two-day symposium, which ended yesterday evening, was organised by a steering committee appointed by the newly formed Coalition for the Protection of Children.

Head of the committee and founder of the coalition, Mrs. Sheelagh Cooper, said the group was formed because of the lack of child advocacy groups on the Island and the fact child welfare legislation has had very few changes since 1943.

She said the forum was planned to get local residents and organisations together to share information in an effort to work towards improving the likelihood that all Bermuda's children will grow up in a safe and nurturing environment.