Since 2017, when a special investigative team was established in the Police, to date, over 2.000 complaints have been made about incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation of children, while in the last three years alone, over 900 incidents have been recorded.
The data was provided by the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Marios Hartsiotis, during his speech at the presentation of the National Strategy and Action Plan 2025-2028 for the prevention and combating of sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child pornography, which was presented on Thursday at an event of the VOICE Council, at the Presidential Palace.
The data was also confirmed by the President of the FONI Association, Clea Papaellina, who presented the Strategy, saying that since 2017, 2.600 cases have been referred to the Children's Home.
The event was held in the presence of Ministers, Members of Parliament, Commissioners and other invited guests. At the opening of the event, the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Athina Michaelidou, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Yiannis Panagiotou, the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Marios Hartsiotis and the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Marilena Evangelou, delivered a speech, while the Director of Dental Services delivered a speech on behalf of the Minister of Health, Michalis Damianou.
In her greeting, the Minister of Education emphasized the essential role that the Ministry of Education has to play both in empowering children and teachers, and in implementing legislation on vulnerable childhood.
Referring to actions that are already being implemented, she noted the mandatory holistic sexual education, through the curriculum, in all grades and at all levels of public and private education, as well as the rolling implementation of the President's announcement to expand the Children's Home, to include all forms of abuse and its expansion to every province.
He also added that during the 2024-2025 school year, training programs for teachers of all levels on sexual education were carried out, highlighting the role of teachers in the prevention, recognition and management of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
He also noted that the updating and publication of the Teacher's Manual for the Recognition and Management of Incidents of Child Sexual Abuse has begun, as well as its translation into English for the information of English-speaking teachers in private schools of all levels.
"What I have briefly mentioned demonstrates our strong will to meet our duty and our moral responsibility to ensure the right of children to develop in safe conditions," said the Minister.
In turn, the Minister of Labor said that the Strategy marks a holistic and evidence-based approach, which recognizes the complexity of the phenomenon, sets clear goals, priorities and interventions required to address the phenomenon of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
As he stated, through monitoring the implementation of policies and implementing targeted campaigns, the VOICE Council strengthens prevention and public awareness about the phenomenon. He added that it is particularly important to contribute to the education of children, parents and professionals in recognizing risks and timely reporting of incidents and protection from threats, "both in the real world and in the digital one, where the boundaries between safety and risk are becoming increasingly blurred."
The Minister of Justice, in his greeting, said that the state sets as an absolute priority the protection of children from all forms of abuse and exploitation and the National Strategy demonstrates the commitment to this goal.
He noted everyone's duty to "break" the cycle of silence, since, as he said, it is "the legal, moral and institutional obligation of the state for the child to grow up in an environment of safety and protection," with preventive measures but also direct support for children who are subjected to violence and abuse.
Referring to numbers, he said that over 900 incidents of sexual violence against minors have been recorded in the last three years, while since 2017, when the special investigative team was established in the police, over 2.000 complaints have been made.
Referring to relevant state actions, he said that a law was passed in 2014 to prevent and combat sexual abuse of minors, noting that its amendment is underway to fill the gaps that have been identified. He added that the new national strategy is the culmination of the effort of multi-level cooperation between agencies, guided by international and European commitments, good practices and the needs of society.
He also noted, as an important reform, the strengthening of the responsibilities of the supervisory authority for those convicted of sexual offences against minors, allowing for stricter supervision measures after their release. To this end, the Ministry proceeded to submit proposals for amending the legislation, so that it can assign supervisors the duties of supervising those released from prison, adding an important link between the supervised and the supervisory authority.
On behalf of the Minister of Health, Andri Aristotelous, Director of Dental Services, delivered a speech, noting that the Ministry contributes to prevention, early intervention and support of issues, promoting a comprehensive strategy to address the issues.
It focused on actions to train health professionals to be able to recognize signs of abuse, as well as on strengthening mental health services for children and adolescents.
Finally, Deputy Minister of Welfare, Marilena Evangelou, said that the Strategy bears the hallmark of scientific documentation and an interdisciplinary approach. She noted that the Social Welfare Services (SWS) are developing specific policies for prevention, timely, continuous and specialized intervention.
The Deputy Minister referred to the collaboration with the Local Government Authorities, to expand the institution of the neighborhood social worker. She also said that the YKE assigned the operation of the Children's Home to the organization Hope for Children, under their supervision. The Children's Home, she continued, is a model specialized center that promotes the safety and protection of children.
"More and more children are speaking out in recent years. At the same time, each new incident is a stark reminder that the struggle is ongoing and shared," he said, noting that meaningful change requires collaboration.
The National Strategy was presented by the President of the VOICE Council, Clea Papaellina. She stated that the Strategy was approved by the Council of Ministers in May and includes the obligations of the various competent bodies for the next three years, with hundreds of actions, multi-level and coordinated mobilization to eliminate the phenomenon.
The Strategy consists of six pillars: primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, research, evaluation and international collaborations.
The aim of the first pillar, prevention, is to reduce incidents of abuse through informing the general population, through training professionals, parents and children. He noted that training professionals includes teachers, doctors, judges and those who deal with children.
Furthermore, he referred to the implementation of sexual education by the Ministry of Education, as well as in collaboration with university institutions for the training of undergraduate students in educational sciences. He noted that there is also a provision for training for newly-minted teachers at every level.
He also referred to the importance of manuals in identifying and managing incidents, citing as a good example the manuals of the Ministry of Education and the KE.
Secondary prevention concerns the second pillar, and aims to identify vulnerable social groups in the general population who are more likely to develop dangerous behaviors for child abuse, through strengthening front-line services, training professionals, and strengthening the operation of the Children's Home for holistic support of victims.
Ms. Papaellina also gave impetus to the creation of an incident recording tool, which will function as a central archive for mutual information between the competent bodies.
The third pillar is tertiary prevention, which, as he explained, has to do with dealing with incidents, with interventions to reduce negative consequences and avoid re-victimization of the victim, by preventing further harm to the victim.
He referred to two examples of good practice, the Children's Home and the "Thread" Center. As he said, the Children's Home operates based on the Icelandic model, with a specialized team of professionals, with the aim of avoiding re-traumatization of the child through a single videotaped deposition. There, children are prepared before appearing in court, with the provision of psychological, social and legal support and in close cooperation with the prosecution authorities. He added that with funding from Cyta and with the approval of the Supreme Court, the Children's Home is interconnected with the provincial courts. He noted that since it has been operating in 2017, 2.600 children have been referred to it.
The "Thread" Center, which is celebrating its second anniversary, is the first structure in which support services and treatments are provided to adults who were sexually abused as children and to members of their family or supportive environment. The program is an initiative of the Family Association and is subsidized by the Ministry of Health.
In the fourth pillar, research, Ms. Papaellina noted the importance of systematic data collection and analysis, which is essential for policymaking. She specifically referred to a 2015 study by the Department of Psychology of the University of Cyprus, which revealed for the first time that “the number 1 in 1” also applies in Cyprus, as well as the fact that only 5% of victims sought help.
The research, which was funded by the Leventis Foundation, is being repeated this year, ten years later. “We are eagerly awaiting the results” expected to be presented at the end of 2026 to see where we are today compared to then, he said, noting that these will guide actions for the next ten years.
The fifth pillar includes the evaluation of the programs and actions of each body, as, as he mentioned, the continuous monitoring of the strategy ensures its effectiveness.
Finally, the sixth pillar concerns cooperation with foreign bodies. As he said, within the framework of the Cypriot presidency in the next six months, FONI will organize a conference on "Innovative practices in the management of the prevention and fight against child sexual abuse", which is an opportunity to highlight the issue at the European level.
The bodies that contribute to the Strategy's actions are the Ministry of Education, the Pedagogical Institute, the Observatory for School Violence, the Educational Psychology Service, the Ministry of Health, the OKYpY, the School Medical Services, the PIS, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, the Legal Service, the Police, the ΚΟ, the Union of Municipalities and the Union of Communities, the Cyprus Family Planning Association and "wherever there are children", as he added.
He also made special mention of the contribution of the media, while noting that the Cyprus News Agency is helping to organize a relevant conference.
Noting the actions for the coming period, he referred to a seminar that will be held in September at the Cyprus Children's Parliament, to the holding of a conference under the presidency, in collaboration with parents, for actions of a broad information and awareness campaign, on November 18, which is the European Day against Child Sexual Abuse, which this year marks 10 years since its establishment.
In closing, a video of a police officer's testimony was presented, which referred to the stories heard from the mouths of children. She spoke specifically about an 11-year-old girl who told her what she experienced at the hands of her grandfather, describing in detail the abuse she suffered for two years, 1-2 times a week. The specific perpetrator was sentenced to 20 years in prison, as mentioned, with the police officer sending the message "it's never your fault, we're here for you."
