ERISA DAUTAJ ŞENERDEM
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe, hopes the project will be extended by national member states of the Council. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
The Council of Europe is launching a pan-European campaign Monday to raise public awareness about the growing sexual abuse and exploitation of minors in Europe and other parts of the world.
Earlier this year, the council adopted a Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, which has been signed by at least 40 countries, but does not include Turkey.
“Sexual violence against children is a very serious problem in Europe, with one in every five children being sexually abused or exploited,” Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview Thursday. She added that child sexual violence takes many forms, including incest and sexual abuse, pornography, prostitution, trafficking and sexual assault by peers.
The public-awareness campaign being launched in Rome aims to inform people about the extent of such abuse and “equip children, their families and society with [the] knowledge and tools” to prevent it, de Boer-Buquicchio said. The council worked closely with children, parents, teachers, social workers, lawyers, psychologists and other experts in order to determine the type of information that should be provided.
“Seventy to 80 percent of sexual abuse or violence against children occurs within their ‘circle of trust’ – [perpetrated by] parents, guardians, teachers or even neighbors,” de Boer-Buquicchio said. As members of this group are generally the people a child would talk to in the event of abuse, young victims are often left with no one they can turn to.
The council has prepared various awareness-raising and informational materials – including handbooks and brochures, studies and reports and a 30-second TV spot – developed for the different groups targeted by the campaign. One of its awareness-raising concepts, dubbed the “underwear rule,” was developed as a way to help parents and caregivers talk to children in a positive and child-friendly manner about their right to define their personal boundaries – the area underneath their underwear – and their right to say no if they are unhappy about being touched.
“We aim to tell very young children [in the 3-7 age group] that they are masters of their own bodies and that they are the ones to set the limits,” said de Boer-Buquicchio, adding that it was crucial for children to speak up when they feel something is not right.
“I hope that once launched, the campaign will also be extended by national member states of the Council of Europe,” she said.
Legislative reforms needed
The deputy secretary-general also expressed her hope that Turkey would soon ratify the council’s Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, which entered into force in July and aims to prevent sexual offenses against children, prosecute the perpetrators and protect the victims. De Boer-Buquicchio added that the convention provides useful guidelines for countries on how sexual violence and abuse against children could be prevented by raising awareness, training and also screening professionals and showing zero tolerance through very clear sanctions.
Unfortunately, she said, a child victim’s ordeal is not always over when the abuse comes to light. All too often children also fall victim to legal loopholes and to ill-coordinated or inadequately trained justice, social and health-care services. The convention also urges certain countries to increase the time limits within which sexual violence and abuse can be reported by individuals, de Boer-Buquicchio said.
“Sometimes, by the time people are ready and mature enough to say that sexual violence has been perpetrated against them, they find out their time [to report] has expired,” she said, calling for such time limits to be removed from national legislation.
New guidelines on child-friendly justice were adopted by the council’s Committee of Ministers on Nov. 17 after three years of preparatory work in which some 4,000 children involved in judicial proceedings in 25 different Council of Europe countries were asked to assess how they had been treated during the proceedings.
“[Our researched showed] children do not trust judicial authorities, as they do not understand what is really going on [during the proceedings],” de Boer-Buquicchio said. “The judiciary must take into account the age of children and adopt proceedings in accordance with their needs and rights.”
The guidelines offer not only essential principles to enhance children’s access to and treatment in the justice system, but also very practical recommendations for child-friendly justice to operate in Council of Europe member states. “Children need to be considered as [adults] when in touch with justice in any sphere – civil, administrative or criminal,” de Boer-Buquicchio said.
EU to join European Convention on Human Rights by next year
The European Union’s accession, as an entity, to the European Convention on Human Rights is one of the top five priorities of the European Council’s Turkish presidency, which took over the Committee of Ministers on Nov. 10.
Negotiations are ongoing between the council and the European bloc. “I believe the [text for the EU’s] accession treaty will be ready by mid-2011,” de Boer-Buquicchio said, adding that the bloc’s membership is crucial as the EU should not be seen as above the law by its citizens.
The council is concerned about the duplication by the EU of policies and mechanisms related to prison and detention policy, Erol Aslan Cebeci, the deputy chair of the council’s Parliamentary Assembly, said Nov. 25 in Istanbul at the 30th conference of Council of Europe justice ministers.
De Boer-Buquicchio said the EU’s membership in the European Convention on Human Rights is essential to avoid such duplication of policies and mechanisms.
Council of Europe launches campaign to fight child sex abuse - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
Earlier this year, the council adopted a Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, which has been signed by at least 40 countries, but does not include Turkey.
“Sexual violence against children is a very serious problem in Europe, with one in every five children being sexually abused or exploited,” Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview Thursday. She added that child sexual violence takes many forms, including incest and sexual abuse, pornography, prostitution, trafficking and sexual assault by peers.
The public-awareness campaign being launched in Rome aims to inform people about the extent of such abuse and “equip children, their families and society with [the] knowledge and tools” to prevent it, de Boer-Buquicchio said. The council worked closely with children, parents, teachers, social workers, lawyers, psychologists and other experts in order to determine the type of information that should be provided.
“Seventy to 80 percent of sexual abuse or violence against children occurs within their ‘circle of trust’ – [perpetrated by] parents, guardians, teachers or even neighbors,” de Boer-Buquicchio said. As members of this group are generally the people a child would talk to in the event of abuse, young victims are often left with no one they can turn to.
The council has prepared various awareness-raising and informational materials – including handbooks and brochures, studies and reports and a 30-second TV spot – developed for the different groups targeted by the campaign. One of its awareness-raising concepts, dubbed the “underwear rule,” was developed as a way to help parents and caregivers talk to children in a positive and child-friendly manner about their right to define their personal boundaries – the area underneath their underwear – and their right to say no if they are unhappy about being touched.
“We aim to tell very young children [in the 3-7 age group] that they are masters of their own bodies and that they are the ones to set the limits,” said de Boer-Buquicchio, adding that it was crucial for children to speak up when they feel something is not right.
“I hope that once launched, the campaign will also be extended by national member states of the Council of Europe,” she said.
Legislative reforms needed
The deputy secretary-general also expressed her hope that Turkey would soon ratify the council’s Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, which entered into force in July and aims to prevent sexual offenses against children, prosecute the perpetrators and protect the victims. De Boer-Buquicchio added that the convention provides useful guidelines for countries on how sexual violence and abuse against children could be prevented by raising awareness, training and also screening professionals and showing zero tolerance through very clear sanctions.
Unfortunately, she said, a child victim’s ordeal is not always over when the abuse comes to light. All too often children also fall victim to legal loopholes and to ill-coordinated or inadequately trained justice, social and health-care services. The convention also urges certain countries to increase the time limits within which sexual violence and abuse can be reported by individuals, de Boer-Buquicchio said.
“Sometimes, by the time people are ready and mature enough to say that sexual violence has been perpetrated against them, they find out their time [to report] has expired,” she said, calling for such time limits to be removed from national legislation.
New guidelines on child-friendly justice were adopted by the council’s Committee of Ministers on Nov. 17 after three years of preparatory work in which some 4,000 children involved in judicial proceedings in 25 different Council of Europe countries were asked to assess how they had been treated during the proceedings.
“[Our researched showed] children do not trust judicial authorities, as they do not understand what is really going on [during the proceedings],” de Boer-Buquicchio said. “The judiciary must take into account the age of children and adopt proceedings in accordance with their needs and rights.”
The guidelines offer not only essential principles to enhance children’s access to and treatment in the justice system, but also very practical recommendations for child-friendly justice to operate in Council of Europe member states. “Children need to be considered as [adults] when in touch with justice in any sphere – civil, administrative or criminal,” de Boer-Buquicchio said.
EU to join European Convention on Human Rights by next year
The European Union’s accession, as an entity, to the European Convention on Human Rights is one of the top five priorities of the European Council’s Turkish presidency, which took over the Committee of Ministers on Nov. 10.
Negotiations are ongoing between the council and the European bloc. “I believe the [text for the EU’s] accession treaty will be ready by mid-2011,” de Boer-Buquicchio said, adding that the bloc’s membership is crucial as the EU should not be seen as above the law by its citizens.
The council is concerned about the duplication by the EU of policies and mechanisms related to prison and detention policy, Erol Aslan Cebeci, the deputy chair of the council’s Parliamentary Assembly, said Nov. 25 in Istanbul at the 30th conference of Council of Europe justice ministers.
De Boer-Buquicchio said the EU’s membership in the European Convention on Human Rights is essential to avoid such duplication of policies and mechanisms.
Council of Europe launches campaign to fight child sex abuse - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
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