World Scouting Jamborees – the name being derived from “jambo”, the Swahili term for “hello” – of which there have been 21 since 1920 the latest held in the Uk in 2007, may be coming to an end. The new ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) requirements may well mean that Jamborees in the UK are no longer able to go ahead.

This is because Jamborees naturally rely on a large amount of support from Scout Leaders from across the world – and these leaders won’t have been through the ISA system. Which would make them unable to help with young people, as they would be assumed to be paedeophiles.

Because that is what this ISA system does. It assumes that everyone is unsuitable to look after young people unless they have had a check by them. Unsuitability is assumed unless proven otherwise – a complete reversal from the presumption of innocence, and an assumption that does nothing but harm both young people and adults.

We should, and must, ensure that all adults who want to be in charge of young people are suitable to do so. But we should not assume that people are unsuitabel unless this has been proven – and there are plenty of on-the-ground checks as well, at least within the Scout Association.

Jamborees should not be prevented in the UK because foreign leaders have not been checked by the ISA. These are people who have already proven themselves to be suitable adults – they are, after all, Scout leaders!