OT 18:26:01 14-02-2018 MI1824OT.007 Съвет на Европа - доклад - деца - сексуално насилие - България Protection of children against sexual abuse: Bulgaria asked to introduce obligatory recrtuiment screening for all, treatment programmes in prisons for sexual offenders BAEVA Tatiana Protection of children against sexual abuse: Bulgaria asked to introduce obligatory recrtuiment screening for all, treatment programmes in prisons for sexual offenders Dear colleagues, The Council of Europe has published a new report about the practices in 26 Council of Europe member States, including Bulgaria, to protect children against sexual abuse in the circle of trust (i.e. extended family and other close people). The new report looks specifically at educating children about the risks, reporting suspicion of sexual abuse, keeping persons convicted of sexual abuse far from children, as well as trying to avoid new victims by assisting offenders and persons who fear they might commit sexual offences against children. The Council of Europe's Lanzarote Committee gives recommendations to all the states. To keep persons convicted of sexual abuse far from children, it urges Bulgaria introduce obligatory screening to the recruitment of all professionals in regular contact with children, and not limit it to specific professions, as well as to deny the exercise of the professional or voluntary activity in the course of which the offence was committed. The Council of Europe's Committee is alarmed by the absence in many countries, including Bulgaria, of specific measures or services for persons, including adolescents, who fear they might commit sexual offences against children. Along with other states, Bulgaria is urged to put in place special programmes in prisons to treat sexual offenders to avoid new victims after the release from prisons. One of the Bulgaria's good practices noted in the report is the involvement of children in the development and implementation of state policies, and conducting educational activities in formal and informal settings both in primary and secondary schools on the problem of sexual abuse in the circle of trust. I hope this information will be useful for your reporting or will serve as reference for future work. Please, see the general press release below, with the link to the full text of the report. Best, Tatiana BAEVA Media Officer / Spokesperson Directorate of Communications Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex Tel: +33 3 88 41 21 41 Cell: +33 685 11 64 93 Fax: + 33 3 90 21 49 11 E-mail: Tatiana.BAEVA@coe.int Website: www.coe.int Twitter: @CoE, in Russian: @CoE_ru Subscribe to CoE news! P Please consider the environment before printing, or not, this e-mail. Si vous ne parvenez pas ? lire ce message correctement, cliquez ici MEDIA RELEASE Communications Protection of children against sexual abuse in the circle of trust: workable strategies http://bit.ly/2BVfpgG In a new report published today, the Council of Europe's Lanzarote Committee analyses the strategies used by 26 European countries(*) to protect children against sexual abuse in the circle of trust (extended family and persons close to the child who exercise influence over the child). According to the report, states-parties to the Council of Europe's Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (Lanzarote Convention) are undertaking effective steps in this field. Enabling children to take an active part in the development and adoption of policies is a highly promising practice. Almost all parties' national authorities cooperate with civil society organisations and the private sector in awareness-raising, education and training of people working with children to prevent child sexual abuse. The report stresses the important role of the media in informing about child sexual abuse paying particular attention to the full respect for the privacy and the rights of the child. In Croatia and Romania, for instance, it is prohibited to reveal the identity or any other information about the private life of a child. The Lanzarote Committee acknowledges the relevance of general awareness-raising campaigns on child sexual abuse carried out by many state parties. It reiterates, however, that it is s necessary to also envisage targeted actions to effectively inform the general public about the risk of sexual abuse of children specifically in the circle of trust, and the means to protect children against such crime. The report highlights various formats of informing children of sexual abuse at school. The information is generally delivered within the context of broader school subjects such as biology or life skills. The fact that child abuse may be perpetrated in the child's circle of trust is however not always addressed specifically. In some state parties (e.g. in Albania, Malta and Portugal) child sexual abuse, including in the circle of trust, is addressed as part of a "sexual education" course. The Lanzarote Committee considers that those states parties that are not doing so yet, should specifically address the issue of sexual abuse in the circle of trust while providing information to children of primary and secondary school. The Lanzarote Committee also recommends allocating adequate financial resources to regular training on child sexual abuse in the circle of trust for all professionals in regular contact with children. It is noted that only Denmark and Iceland have permanent governmental funding for such training programs for all institution levels (day-care, primary schools, etc.) Reporting suspicion of sexual abuse of children is an important part of preventing and combating it. In some countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta, failure to report child sexual abuse cases may entail criminal liability. The Committee stresses that confidentiality rules imposed on professionals working in contact with children should not be an obstacle to reporting to the services responsible for child protection where these professionals have reasonable grounds for believing that a child is the victim of sexual abuse. To keep persons convicted of sexual abuse far from children, the Lanzarote Committee urges the parties that limit mandatory screening only to specific professions (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine) to extend such screening to the recruitment of all professionals in regular contact with children. All perpetrators should be denied the exercise of the professional or voluntary activity in the course of which the offence was committed. The situation needs redress in this regard in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro and San Marino. Parties to the Lanzarote Convention should assist persons who fear they might commit sexual offences against children. The Lanzarote Committee is alarmed by the absence of specific measures or services for such people in most of the countries. The Lanzarote Committee urges Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Ukraine to put in place effective intervention programmes for all persons who fear they might offend. Alternative measures to imprisonment of sexual offenders include therapeutic or psychological treatment and community services. Only Belgium, Spain and Lithuania have special programmes for such persons. The Lanzarote Committee invites all the other parties to widen the scope of treatment programmes and measures. As for treatment in prisons, out of 26 surveyed, only 12 parties (Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey) offer it. The Lanzarote Committee urges all others to put in place such programmes in prisons. In addition, special measures are required after the release from prison to reintegrate the persons into society and to avoid new victims. -------------- (*) As the 1st implementation report, also this one covers the following 26 state parties which had ratified the Lanzarote Convention at the time the monitoring round was launched: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Turkey and Ukraine. Press contact Tatiana Baeva, Spokesperson/Media officer, Tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41 Council of Europe, Media Assistance /МИМ/