The injustice to child victims of violence and sexual abuse points to a continuous mistaken systemic approach. The director of the International Center for Women Rights Protection and Promotion “La Strada” Ana Revenko, in a news conference at IPN, said the actions in the area of social protection of children victims are often simulated and these victims are actually accused, not protected.
“I will not exaggerate if I say that we, as defenders of human rights, experience an ambiguous feeling when we are put in the situation to protect the children not only from those who cause harm to them by abusing them, but also from the state authorities that use the official instruments with which they were empowered,” stated Ana Revenco.
She noted that even if money was invested in policies and the implementation of mechanisms for protecting child victims, these remained on paper only, while the actions in this field are being simulated.
“By ignoring the situations of risk faced by the child, simulating interventions and shifting responsibility for what happened onto the children, these are allowed to cope by themselves with abuses they experience daily. Such approaches on the part of specialists and institutions with child protection duties are not isolated. Such cases happen more often and have more serious consequences for children, while such a picture of the child protection system actually shows an absolutely mistaken systemic approach that is far from being centered on the supreme interest of the child,” said Ana Revenco.
The director of the International Center for Women Rights Protection and Promotion “La Strada” also said that the state must be the protector of the child, as it is provided in the Constitution, and must not blame the child victims. The cases examined by the lawyers of “La Strada” confirm this inacceptable attitude in the area of child protection, in the family, at school and in court.
The lawyers of “La Strada” have handled 150 cases of violence and sexual abuse against minors.
