Letter to the Legal Service to consider as a matter of priority a bill before it which provides for the creation of a Commission called "Voice", which will oversee the implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan to combat sexual abuse and Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography, adopted in March 2016, will be sent by the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities between Men and Women.
In statements after the meeting of the Committee, the President of Stella Kyriakidou said that “we have the national strategy and the action plan but it has not yet become this Committee which will monitor the implementation of the strategy, so that we can be sure of how is moving forward ", while he announced that in 2017 the first home for the child will operate in Nicosia.
"This is a huge change that in itself will bring other changes and improvements in the way we handle these issues," he said, adding that "the child's home changes the whole philosophy."
According to Ms. Kyriakidou, "there is a child-centered process and a place where the child will not be injured by telling his story five times".
"It will be the first time that all these services (Social Welfare Services, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Police) will be under one roof and there will inevitably be better coordination," he said, adding that the child's home ensures his support, the support of the family and the support of the child when he returns to school ”.
"This in itself will facilitate the number of complaints, as many times a parent is afraid to complain because he does not know what support he will have," he added.
In addition, Ms. Kyriakidou said that it is extremely important that Cyprus stands out at European level for the steps that have been taken in the last three years in terms of tackling child sexual abuse and victims of child pornography.
He referred to the change in legislation in 2014 and the ratification of the Lazarotti Convention and noted that for the first time we have a national strategy for an action plan to combat child sexual abuse.
"This is very important. Many steps have been taken and are being taken in terms of information, primary prevention, secondary prevention and specialization, the necessary changes have been made and a new legislation is needed to create the Commission that will oversee the implementation of the strategy and which is called `Voice`. ", He added.
Ms. Kyriakidou also said that this is a central part of the implementation of the strategy and added that "many times national strategies, action plans are made and not implemented"
He explained that this new legislation that will create this new committee called `Voice` will be solely responsible for monitoring and implementing the action plan of the strategy.
He also said that the Human Rights Committee has requested that a letter be sent to the Legal Service so that they can see as a matter of priority the legislation that has been processed there because we have the national strategy and action plan but the Commission has not yet done so. the application so we can be sure of how it goes.
He said problems remained with the huge delays in hearing cases, adding that this should be considered by the Parliamentary Committee, the Child Commissioner and the Supreme Court in order to have a circular for a faster trial.
He also referred to the need for specialization of teachers who teach sex education, which should cover all levels of education, starting with pre-primary education.
Shelter for victims of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation
In connection with informing the Commission about the operation of the state shelter for victims of trafficking in sexually exploited, the President of the Commission said that “the aim is not the repatriation but the psychological empowerment of these victims who are women, who have suffered a serious trauma experience of exploitation and abuse so that they can testify in court ”.
"The goal should be to go to court and convict those who are traders," he said, adding that much needs to be done to do so.
Stating that the shelter should operate in a way that gives them family warmth and support, Ms. Kyriakidou said that “there should be more access to the shelter from non-governmental organizations that can offer this support and there should be specialization of all officers dealing with the victims and the psychological support of the victims should not be at the choice of the victim but it should be considered that from the time a woman is in the shelter she automatically has psychological support and does not have to go same in other services.
"Only in this way will we be able to implement what the GRETA report of the Council of Europe calls for," he added.
He said that since the last meeting of the Commission in October, where significant problems had been identified, the shelter housed 10 unaccompanied minors and not victims of trafficking, while today there are no minors there and 4 victims of trafficking are hosted.
He also said that the Commission was informed about the operating conditions of the state shelter and about the trainings that have started to be done in the Social Welfare Services and added that trainings will be done by the Ministry of Interior to have a specialization on how to treat these victims.
Ms. Kyriakidou also said that they were informed by the Mental Health Services that they are dealing with the diagnosis, evaluation and preparation of reports in court and we were informed about staff supervision meetings that have begun to be held by the Mental Health Services.
He added, however, that "the issue that needs to be addressed is how this shelter will really function as a shelter and not just as a shelter where identified victims will be housed until repatriated."
Source: KYPE