ONE in FIVE campaign - Seminar Combating child sexual exploitation at local and regional levels

Congress contribution to the Council of Europe ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children

9 February 2012, Strasbourg (France)

Speech by DusicaDavidovic, Congress thematic Rapporteur on Children

“How can we fight sexual violence against children at the grassroots?”

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to share few words on how we can fight sexual violence against children at the grassroots.

For the combat against this global social problem, very important is a synchronized action at all levels: international, national, regional, and local, in order to effectively fight against it.

But very important is fight against this problem at the grassroots , or I would say– a wide synergy action at regional and especially- local level.

Today,practically every country in Europe is facing the spreading problemof sexual violence against childrenand its various forms. I will repeat that- we all share the concern that urgent action is needed at all levels of governance to stop and prevent it. All governance instances have its role to play in implementing the main objectives in the One in Five Campaign.

According to the Congress’ Strategic Action Plan on the local and regional dimensions of the One in Five Campaign(approved in September by the Bureau) the focus of the Conress contribution is to encourage all authorities levels and their associations, as well as other partners (local and regional NGOs,civil society organisations, officials, professionals, decision-makers, local and regional media) to promote the Campaign, and also to raise awareness among local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse – known as the Lanzarote Convention.

The ultimate goal of all the action is to bring about the establishment of child-friendly services at grassroots , in order to protect children and help prevent sexual violence within the community.

How to achieve this goal?

By the comprehensive actions built upon our proposals for preventing violence against children in general  (like it wasput forward in the Congress Resolution 289 (2009)), and now with special address to preventing sexual abuse as importnat aspect of violence against children- as a follow-up to the above mentioned resolution. That is to be achieved through being devoted to 1 in 5 campaign and its objectives.

For Europen regions with legislative powers very important is  to find the way to transpose the Lanzarote Convention into their own legal frameworks and thus to enable and facilitate practical implementation of its principles also at the local level.

Sincechild sexual violence can take many forms: sexual abuse within the familiy circle,  abuse within the foster families, child pornography and prostitution, child trafficing, corruption, solicitation via Internet, sexual assault by peers etc, and since it is usually so called „silent crime“ due to the child’s difficulties in disclosure ,very important moment is - the recognition of such case and appropriate treatment of it, treatment of child victim, but also of the offender, and prevention of secondary violence. After recognition, very important step is investigation procedure and re-victimisation of child victims as well as child-friendly and multidisciplinary response to child sexual abuse.

In the fight with the phenomenon of sexual violence against children the most important remains, of course, theprevention. The efforts shoud be strongly put on the prevention  and preventive measures.

General preventive measures  are of great importance and should include: awareness raising/raise awareness of children’s rights to protection and of theinterrelatedness of different kinds of violence against children,making clear, including to children, what is acceptable and non-acceptablebehavior, educational measures for children, training and awareness raising of staff working with and for children on the rights of the child in general and the phenomenon of child sexual abuse and exploitation in particular /Develop and strengthen child rights protection systems, providing child-friendly and age-specific information on childsexual abuse for children with different abilities, provide health services and social services to children livingwithout an adult caregiver/, encouraging, by financial contribution where appropriate, programs and projects, carried out by civil society by participatory strategy, especially involving children, parents, the media and the private sector in fighting against sexual abuse and exploitation.

At the local level general preventive measures are to beelaborated and developed with the involvement of the entire community. Very important can be (as one of general prevention actions) among scholars – periodical conduction of survey in all schools as a way of coming to the findings through scholars answers on the potential sexual abuse or child pornography cases appearance. Also in such way we can find out how children are able to recognize suspect persons who harrest them.

For a community, recommended measures would be:encouraging local authorities, organisations, professionals andchildren to address the prevention and protection of children andto strengthen child-friendly enforcement mechanisms, establishing independent monitoring mechanisms, (for example.a childombudspersons), with a mandate to receive complaints andfollow-up on child sexual abuse and other forms of violenceagainst children, strengthening children’s resilience and integrity through child-friendlymeasures and providing training in life skills, gender equality and conflict management, Givingchildren  the opportunity to organise and to express their opinions, Supporting networking and alliances between civil society organisations,including children’s organisations and initiatives, andlocal authorities to share ideas to strengthen work on the prevention of sexual abuse and increase the protection of children, Taking strategic action to bring about changes in social attitudesand behaviour, for example through the use of the media and thearts to develop a culture of respect for children’s rights amongadults and through passing on these values in the next generationof girls and boys.

The wide effective action both at regional and local level should also include the following ):

*measures of coordination and collaboration (regional and local): independent and competent regional/local body for the promotion and protection on the rights of the child – for example Council for Children; putting in place mechanism to ensure the coordination and cooperation of relevant instances responsible for prevention and  intervention–Social Care Centers, Children Health Services, education institutions,professional services inkindergardens and schools, etc; designate a focal point on regional/local level for data collection and research for the purpose of observing and evaluating the nature and prevalence of sexual abuse.

*Special protective and intervention measures:accessible advice services, telephone or internet help-lines; encouraged/mandatedpublic and professionals to move the suspect cases of child victim, special guidelines on responses to suspected child sexual abuse; available therapeutic interventions for charged and/or convicted sex offenders, ensuring the availability of appropriate therapeutic and other interventions for children who offend and children with inappropriate sexual behaviour, including those who are below the age of criminal responsibility; performing risk assessment of convicted sex offenders with the aim of identifying recidivism and establishing appropriate measures, including registration and monitoring in cases of high risk offenders

*multi-disciplinary response  and measures of victim support and rehabilitation:  multidisciplinary response to suspected child sexual abuse cases through cooperation of the different instances responsible; creating a child-friendly facility for investigating child sexual abuse including interviewing of the child and medical examinations; applying forensic interview protocols; video-taping of the interview for multiple purpose including the judicial proceedings; ensuring that units or services in charge of investigations are specialised in the field  of child sexual abuse; ensuring the safety of the child victim; providing trauma focused therapy for the child victim; counselling and other appropriate support to the victim´s family

I would like to draw the attention to the children – the victims of human trafficking who are almost all the victims of sexual violence. Special multidisciplinary response should be set-up and ensured for this group of victims.

In Europe the most common forms of exploitation associated with trafficking in children are commercial sexual exploitation (child prostitution) and making children beg for money. The work on the prevention and fighting this forms of violence is , I would say, a priority.

As an example of strategical approach to building child friendly and protective environment at regional level  I would like here to mention Serbia National Strategy for the Prevention and Protection of Children against Violence, adopted in. 2008, whichprovides for the achievement of two general strategic goals: development of a safe and secure environment in which the right of each child to be protected from all forms of violence will be ensured and the establishment of a national system of prevention and protection of children against all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation. In that regard, I would like to underline the importance of partnership with NGO,the private sector and the media.

The General Protocol for the Protection of Children against Abuse and Neglect adopted in 2005 is aimed at creating an effective, operative, multi-sectoral network for a coordinated procedure for the protection of children from abuse and neglect, which would enable proper intervention and recovery and create conditions for continued safe development of the child. In that regard, as of 2006, special protocols for the protection of children against abuse and neglect have been adopted for the institutions of social protection, health and educational institutions, as well as for the police and the judiciary.

 At the institutional level, Serbia has developed a comprehensive national system for the protection and promotion of the rights of the child, such as the Council on the Rights of the Child established by the Government and the Working Group for Children’s Rights of the National Assembly, while one of the deputies of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia is tasked with promoting and protecting the rights of the child.

Accordingly to the mentioned National Strategy, at  the local level most of municipalities and towns in Serbia have passed their LAPs for Children within which there is a chapter with concretely dedicated actions aimed at the protection of children from abuse and neglect,  intervention and recovery procedures and conditions for continued safe development of the child.

Thank you for your attention