The state fails in defending children victims of violence and sexual exploitation
The law enforcement bodies and the social protection authorities fail in protecting children victims of violence and sexual exploitation. This is the conclusion of the experts from the International Center “La Strada”, who gave several examples of injustice towards children during a press conference. The experts ring the alarm about the fact that the lack of reaction or formal approach in situations of abuse against children is the usual behavior of all state institutions that have the ability to get involved.
“I will not exaggerate by saying that for a long time, as human rights defenders we get an ambiguous feeling that we need to defend the child not only from those who abused and exploited him/her, but also from the state authorities who use official ways to “solve” the case, and thus blame the child for the things that happened to him/her”, said during a thematic press conference Ana Revenco, Director of the International Center for Protection and Promotion of Women’s Rights “La Strada”.
One of the examples presented to the public features a man suspected of sexual exploitation of children for commercial purposes, who ran away from Moldova after the court rejected the prosecutors’ and the defense attorneys’ request, and set the offender free from custody. This happened even though the offender has an active criminal record, related to similar crimes, and there are proofs demonstrating that the offender was calling the victims, including while being in custody, to force them to change their statements. “Did the judge think even for a moment, what is the impact of this decision for the child and for his/her condition? Based on the international treaties and conventions that Moldova has joined, the child has the status of victim and should be placed in a safe place and protected accordingly. Later, the hierarchically superior court cancelled the decision to set the man free from custody and he should return to jail, but by that moment he already left the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The consequences of the decision are the following: the investigation is stuck, and we cannot speak about an efficient investigation in cases of child trafficking, the victims are afraid and refuse to cooperate with the investigating authorities. But the most serious problem is that the society starts believing that after committing such crimes, people can easily escape from justice. Actually, to develop fair justice that would focus on the child-victim there is no need for money, but only sensitive attitude form court users”, said Natalia Bayram.
Another situation presented by the experts from the International Center “La Strada” refers to a child who was repeatedly assaulted by the primary school teacher, who is also the principal of that school. Although there is a conclusion made by the family doctor, which confirms injuries with bleeding in the girl’s facial zone, recently, the prosecutor changed his mind and decided upon the termination of the criminal case, says the attorney Ana Nani. “Although more than seven months have passed since the first complaints were filed, up to this moment the child has no identity documents and the teacher is still carrying out her activity as Principal of the institution and primary school teacher. Moreover, no action was taken to punish her for violence against a child, especially taking into account that several parents confirmed that the teacher was often aggressive. This demonstrates the indifference of state and law enforcement authorities in cases when children are involved, especially children from vulnerable families. All these inactions of authorities increased the child’s trauma, and she refuses going to school. In the Republic of Moldova nobody cares about the fate of a child and his/her psychologic development”, said the attorney Ana Nani.
In this context, representatives of the International Center “La Strada” reminded about the fact that they have already brought similar cases to the public opinion’s attention, which demonstrates that injustice in child matters are not just isolated cases, but show a constant wrong systemic approach.
All these happen, considering that in 2016, there are 16 years since the Republic of Moldova had ratified the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. At the same time, more than ten years passed since the authorities from Chisinau had ratified the Warsaw Convention – The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Also, in 2012, the Republic of Moldova ratified the Lanzarote Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, and the Convention on Child Rights.
The experts say that, on one hand, mechanisms were changed, money was invested, thousands of hours were dedicated to train the specialists in the field, and the international antitrafficking and child rights protection community appreciated these actions as positive models for the region. On the other hand, the monitoring mechanisms of the same international institutions clearly mentioned in their reports over the years that corruption keeps increasing in the justice sector, and in case of other related institutions child protection is still a wish, assumed only on paper.