SKWEYIYA ADCJ [47] The importance of the best-interests principle cannot be gainsaid, particularly when, as here, one is dealing with children exposed to the criminal justice system. How we treat and nurture our children today, including child offenders, impacts the shared dignity of the broader community for years to come. It is nevertheless a laudable and legitimate constitutional aim that the Register seeks to achieve – to provide spaces of safety for children and persons with mental disabilities to learn and grow, be it in schools, in foster homes or places to play and socialise. Caring for and educating children and persons with mental disabilities is a responsibility that should not be afforded to persons who will harm them. [48] Sexual violence threatens a victim‘s rights to freedom and security of the person,59 privacy60 and dignity61 in a profound way. Sexual offences have effects that ripple far beyond the horrific immediacy and physicality of the crime. Our success or failure as a community to prevent and protect against sexual violence has bearing on us all, collectively and individually. I can think of few endeavours more important for a community than protecting vulnerable persons in particular, such as children and persons with mental disabilities, from sexual abuse. [49] The limitation aims to achieve a valuable purpose. The objectives of the Register are, however, premised on the idea that the relevant offenders pose a risk to children and persons with mental disabilities. And patterns of recidivism for sexual 59 Section 12 of the Constitution. 60 Id section 14. 61 Id section 10. 26