26th meeting of the PACE Network of Contact
Parliamentarians to stop
sexual violence against children
“Presentation of the Cyprus
pilot project:
an example of good practice”
by Ms Leda Koursoumba, Cyprus Commissioner for Children’s Rights and member
of the project Steering Group, in Strasbourg
It is, indeed, an honor for me to have been invited, to speak before
the PACE Network of Contact Parliamentarians to stop sexual violence against
children, about my experiences from the implementation of the Pilot Project of
the Council of Europe “One in Five” Campaign, in Cyprus.
Honorable members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe,
Despite the long history of efforts to combat sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse of children, one of the worst forms of violation of children’s
rights, this continues to be a major social problem faced by European societies
today.
This unpalatable truth, underlines the need to enhance our efforts to
eliminate all forms of sexual crimes against children. A prerequisite for states to achieve that,
is to have in place an effective and wide-ranging legal framework as well as a
comprehensive strategy. Thanks to the
Pilot Project of the Council of Europe “One in Five” Campaign, as the Cypriot
Commissioner for Children’s Rights, I can stand before you today and, proudly,
say that, Cyprus is now equipped with both of these important tools.
Nevertheless, to reach that, the road has been long.
The fight against sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children
was never a terra incognita in Cyprus. The Social Welfare Services and the
Police played, for many years, a leading role in this. Their efforts, however,
were confined, mainly, to repressive actions using, as their main tool, the
penal code. Public awareness raising, if any, was confined to the media coverage
of specific criminal cases. It goes without saying that, efforts aiming at
empowerment of children were very limited.
The establishment of an independent children’s rights institution, in
2008, is one of the most significant milestones for the promotion of children’s
rights in Cyprus in general, but, also, for the efforts to combat sexual abuse
and sexual exploitation of children in the country. As the first Commissioner
for Children’s Rights, I placed very high in my agenda the fight against sexual
abuse of children. From the outset, I undertook a wide spectrum of activities,
ranging from addressing the Government and the Parliament (in relation to the
exercise of both, legislative power and parliamentary control) to activities
aiming at raising awareness of the society at large, adults and children, and
empowerment of children. Actions undertaken by my Office to this effect,
included public interventions and communications, aiming, either to raise
awareness on the issue and to emphasize the need for measures to be taken or to
scrutinize specific practices and procedures (e.g. the manner of taking
testimony of children in cases of alleged sexual abuse) and, where appropriate,
to express publicly my disagreement with Court decisions on sexual abuse
cases.
Having identified the lack of planning and coordination among the
various stakeholders in the field, one of my main priorities, was to call for
the need to establish a National Strategy and an Action Plan for preventing and
combating any form of abuse against children; and for child - friendly treatment
of the victims, both within and outside the family context. In this respect, I
addressed the competent Minister for collaboration in calling upon all
stakeholders, both governmental (e.g. Social Welfare Services, Mental Health
Services, Police) and non-governmental, in an effort to identify
roles/responsibilities of each sector and agency in preventing violence against
children.
In November 2010, I attended in Rome, the launch of the Council of
Europe ‘One in Five’ Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence against Children in
Europe. Thereafter, I felt duty- bound to mobilize all concerned in Cyprus
towards achieving the two goals of the Campaign.
In this respect, I urged the competent Minister to take the initiative
for establishing a “National Committee”, comprising all stakeholders (e.g.
government agencies, Children’s Rights Commissioners, NGOs, civil society, local
authorities, media, parents, unions of all levels of education) for the
coordination of the Campaign in Cyprus. At the same time, I appealed to the
Attorney General and the Minister for the need to put in place the legislative
framework that would enable the ratification and implementation of the Lanzarote
Convension. Little, if nothing,
concrete was achieved, I regret to admit.
However, things began to move only three years later, in 2013, in the
context of the Pilot Project “Strengthening national policies to stop sexual
violence against children: A Council of Europe project involving pilot
initiatives in Cyprus”, under the coordination of the PACE, and co-funding of
the A.G. Leventis Foundation.
Thereafter, we witnessed an evident mobilization of all concerned
(government services, independent authorities and civil society), resulting in
steady progress with an accelerating pace.
The implementation of the project was carried out by a Steering
Group, comprising Ms Stella Kyriakides, Member of the Cyprus Parliament and, at
the time, General Rapporteur on Children at the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council Europe, Ms Anastasia Papadopoulos, representing the A.G Leventis
Foundation, the Advisory Committee for
the Prevention and Combating of Violence in the Family, the Municipality of
Nicosia, the Cyprus National Commission
of UNESCO, the University of Cyprus, the NGO “Hope For Children” - UNCRC Policy
Centre, and, naturally, the Cypriot Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
The members of the Group worked jointly and separately towards
achieving the two goals of the Campaign. They held activities together, but,
also, executed their different projects within their respective
competences. As Children’s Rights
Commissioner, I considered child participation indispensable and, therefore, I
caused children to be involved in awareness raising of politicians, society at
large and children themselves. My Young Advisors’ Team played an important role
in that.
A very note-worthy achievement of the Project, was that, we had the
first of its kind in Cyprus, epidemiological research by the University of
Cyprus, to mark the extent of the problem in the country. That was a deficiency I had often
highlighted in my monitoring role. The
results, shocking but more or less expected, revealed a ratio of nearly one in
four. This provided us, not only with a valuable mapping of the areas needed to
be addressed but, also, an additional tool for advocacy, policy-making and
awareness raising, purposes.
The major achievement of the project was the enactment of a
comprehensive legislative framework, which enables Cyprus to stand against
sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, more effectively. This was
made possible, due to hard, consistent and effective work of members of the
Group. As a result, Cyprus adopted a new comprehensive national law in July
2014, paving the way for the ratification of the Lanzarote Convention, which
was, in fact, ratified on 12 February 2015. The Convention entered into force
for Cyprus, on 1 June 2015.
There is no doubt that, the Project was successful, not only in terms
of putting into force an effective and wide-ranging legal framework, but, also,
in terms of the awareness raising, sensitization and empowerment of children,
their families and society in general, in preventing and combating sexual
exploitation and sexual abuse against children. This was done through a number
of events and activities organized Cyprus-wide by all stakeholders, including
children. I have to underline here the
significant contribution of the Young Advisors’ Team of the Commissioner for
Children’s Rights, in reaching out children and youth, but, also, in advocating
for a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) education.
Very important is, also, the training program for key stakeholders,
in particular, professionals, such as, judges, prosecutors, police, social
workers, etc.) undertaken by the Steering Group members within the Project.
Honorable members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe,
Before the close of the Pilot Project, the Council of Ministers
appointed an Ad Hoc Ministerial Committee comprising four Ministers (Welfare,
Education, Health and Justice) to take up the task of preparing a National
Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Abuse
and Child Pornography. Ms Anastasia Papadopoulos, who was appointed, at the same
time, Adviser to the Ad Hoc Committee, has recently delivered the draft of an
extremely comprehensive National Strategy, taking on board all important
elements. The Strategy was approved by the Council Ministers on 23.2.2016 and is
now in force. I honestly believe, and
have stated so publicly in Cyprus, that, this Strategy answers to all
shortcomings to the system I have been identifying throughout in my monitoring
of the issue. A very important outcome of the Strategy, is the decision to
establish a Children’s House (on the basis of the Islandic Barnahus model),
which will answer to the need for introducing child-friendly procedures, as
regards support and treatment of the child-victim and family, on the one hand,
and prosecution procedures, on the other.
Dear friends,
I started this morning, by saying that the protection of children
from all forms of violence and abuse and, especially, the prevention of sexual
violence, had been very high in my priorities and one of the main focal points
of my activities, since taking up my mandate as Commissioner of Children’s
Rights. Τ his had been a very lonely road for many years. But not anymore!
Thanks to the institutional support of the Council of Europe and the
financial generosity of the A.G Leventis Foundation, the successful
implementation of the Pilot Project on the “One in Five” Campaign, became
possible, laying the foundations for an effective fight against sexual
exploitation and sexual abuse of children in Cyprus, which will enable us to
address the shortcomings we have been facing for many years. Thus, I feel
duty-bound to express, on behalf of the children of Cyprus, my utmost gratitude
to the Council of Europe, the PACE and the A.G. Leventis Foundation, for making
this Project available to Cyprus. Allow
me to express, also, my gratitude and thanks to those individuals, here present
today but also those not present, who have worked very hard to make the
implementation of the Project in Cyprus a success. We have now reached a stage,
which allows us to feel more optimistic that we can work effectively towards the
protection of our children.
Thank you very much.
