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Recommendation 1934 (2010) Final version
Child abuse in institutions: ensuring full protection of the victims
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is greatly
concerned by the extent to which children and adolescents in Council
of Europe member states have suffered from sexual, physical and
emotional abuse in past decades. Problems of abuse continue to exist
in various institutions, including public and private educational
facilities, childcare residences, correctional facilities for young
offenders, leisure associations and others. The Assembly is further
concerned by the lack of committed action that has sometimes been
observed when it comes to dealing with offences against minors,
who are amongst the most vulnerable members of society.
2. The Assembly is convinced that all authorities and institutions
need to critically review past action and take more far-reaching
measures in the future when it comes to according full justice to
victims of past offences, to supporting children affected by recent
abuse and ongoing legal procedures and to protecting children from future
abuse. No authority or institution should be exempt from critical
review, as all institutions without exception are subject to the
same national legislation, in particular in the field of criminal
law. Governments need to take more committed action at national
level in the future when it comes to reinforcing legislation on child
abuse and applying it to various institutional contexts.
3. Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child obliges all contracting parties to “take all appropriate
legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to
protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence,
injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
including sexual abuse” and requires that such measures should “include
effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes
to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have
the care of the child”. At the level of the Council of Europe, the
Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation
and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201, Lanzarote Convention), which entered
into force on 1 July 2010, contains clear and complete provisions
concerning sexual abuse of children. The convention clearly states
that, when “abuse is made of a recognised position of trust, authority
or influence over the child”, each party shall take the necessary
legislative or other measures to ensure that engaging in intentional
conduct relating to sexual activities with a child is criminalised.
The Assembly further reminds member states of Recommendation Rec(2005)5
of the Committee of Ministers on the rights of children living in
residential institutions which recognises the right “to respect
for the child’s human dignity and physical integrity; in particular,
the right to conditions of human and non-degrading treatment and
a non-violent upbringing, including the protection against corporal
punishment and all forms of abuse”. The Assembly emphasises the importance
of further promoting, signing, ratifying and implementing these
instruments so as to enhance their impact on the situation of children.
4. With regard to the cases of child abuse which have recently
been uncovered and continue to be uncovered, and the existing standards
referring to sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children, the Assembly
recommends that the Committee of Ministers ask member states to:
4.1. ensure legislative protection,
notably by:
4.1.1. adopting legislation to explicitly prohibit
all forms of violence against children: physical and mental violence,
injury or abuse (including sexual abuse), neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment
or exploitation, including in childcare institutions, public and
private educational institutions, correctional facilities and leisure
associations, and thus criminalising any intentional abuse of a
child made by a person in a recognised position of trust, authority
or influence over the child;
4.1.2. providing for ex officio prosecution
in cases of child abuse in any context;
4.1.3. introducing a system of “graded prosecution” of child
abuse according to the gravity of the offence;
4.1.4. ensuring that prescription periods for child abuse offences
under civil and criminal law are coherent and appropriate in view
of the gravity of the offences and, in any case, do not begin before
the victim reaches the age of majority;
4.1.5. defining or revising the rights and responsibilities of
educational staff;
4.1.6. defining or revising the minimum requirements for the
certification of childcare institutions (such as residential care
homes, public and private educational facilities, day-care institutions,
etc.) and conditions to be fulfilled by their management;
4.1.7. making police clearance certificates for professional
and voluntary staff working closely with children (which should
also include minor offences) compulsory;
4.1.8. defining as illegal and excluding certain practices with
regard to the punishment of minors in institutions which are contrary
to their dignity and rights;
4.2. identify possible structural shortcomings in all types
of institutions and adapt existing administrative systems wherever
necessary, by:
4.2.1. examining the factors that facilitate
child abuse in the various institutions and taking specific action
to respond to them;
4.2.2. based on this acquired knowledge, developing and monitoring
internal guidelines for the prevention of child abuse, which are
to be applied by and to all institutions without exception;
4.2.3. reinforcing rules and modalities for the external supervision
of various institutions, notably ensuring that institutions are
never run and supervised by the same authority and giving clear
and understandable structures and mandates to bodies in charge of
control;
4.2.4. developing specific training and continuous education
programmes for all professionals and volunteers working with children
and adolescents, to enable them both to identify potential abuse
and to react to it in an appropriate manner; such training and education
programmes should also be relevant for police, prosecutors and judges
responsible for following up on child abuse;
4.2.5. ensuring that staff and children know about the internal
guidelines of their institutions (and their respective rights);
4.2.6. setting up neutral, independent and child-sensitive bodies
that children can safely access and consult in all confidentiality
whenever they feel threatened, suffer abuse or witness it in their
institutions;
4.3. apply a broad spectrum of political measures to support
and accompany legislative and administrative measures, including:
4.3.1. launching national processes and enquiries dealing with
past offences, including their extensive evaluation and documentation,
so as to accord full justice to victims, including some form of
compensation to be defined, as well as easy and unbureaucratic access
to therapeutic help;
4.3.2. developing, in the context of legal procedures and relevant
follow-up by social services, child-friendly mechanisms and structures
for victims of sexual abuse which will avoid their secondary victimisation;
4.3.3. undertaking further research on the issue so as to fully
understand the scope, nature and causes of the problems encountered
and to learn lessons from the past in order to determine future
action required;
4.3.4. developing, implementing and monitoring comprehensive
strategies aimed at the prevention of child abuse of all kinds,
involving all stakeholders concerned, namely public authorities,
private and religious organisations who run institutions, non-governmental organisations,
families and not least children and adolescents themselves, and
including the following measures:
4.3.4.1. developing practical
tools such as national action plans, guidelines and codes of conduct
for institutions and professionals working with and for children;
4.3.4.2. raising awareness of the importance of strengthening children
through loving, trustful and supportive family or family-type environments,
which allow them to recognise violence or unwanted sexual or physical
acts as something wrong;
4.3.4.3. developing comprehensive services for children, including
counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms, and support services
to help to protect them, and to help victims to recover, to reintegrate
and to obtain compensation;
4.3.4.4. developing strategies for child and youth participation,
so as to consult them on their needs;
4.3.4.5. ensuring that prevention can also tackle possible offenders
before they abuse children, notably by training relevant professionals
(medical, psychological and educational staff) to recognise them
and take appropriate action;
4.3.5. generally raising awareness about child abuse in the institutional
context, including through public information campaigns.
5. The Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
5.1. invite member states to sign
and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children
against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention),
if they have not yet done so, and implement it through committed
national follow-up action;
5.2. invite national governments and parliaments and any other
public or private organisation concerned, to join, support and contribute
to the Council of Europe Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence against
Children, to be launched on 29 and 30 November 2010 in Rome;
5.3. instruct the relevant intergovernmental bodies of the
Council of Europe, notably those related to the Programme Building
a Europe for and with Children and its strategy 2009-2011, to incorporate
the aims of the campaign in their activities, particularly with
regard to promoting the fight against child abuse in institutions
by following the broad approach set out under paragraph 4 above;
5.4. invite all international organisations, including the
European Union, agencies of the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, to support the Council of Europe Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence
against Children.
6. The Assembly invites all stakeholders concerned by child abuse
in institutions in some way to co-operate and to contribute to the
rapid revision of current legislative, structural and political
situations, and to take further committed action against child abuse
in institutions, as well as against all other categories of child
abuse.
7. The Assembly resolves to develop the parliamentary dimension
of the Council of Europe Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence against
Children with a view to associating national parliaments with the
campaign and promoting the signature, ratification and implementation
of the Lanzarote Convention.
8. Finally, the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers,
after having consulted with the government of every member state,
to report back to the Assembly by January 2013 on the measures implemented
and results achieved so far during the campaign in each country
in relation to each point of this recommendation. The Assembly also
invites all observer states to report back in a similar fashion.