The Silence of the Innocent

“We are living in a crisis of values that is very difficult to resolve. For the past seven years the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People of Loulé has been dealing with problems that come up everyday,” Loulé’s Mayor Seruca Emídio told the opening session of the seminar. As he explained, there had been 170 cases dealt with by the commission in 2008 – a number that has increased to 214 in just the first five months of 2009.

In the front line, the 285 CPJ’s spread across the country (13 of which are in the Algarve) have as their principal objective to prevent or resolve situations in which the safety, health, upbringing, education or social development of the nation’s youngest citizens is at risk.

The beneficiaries of this effort are children and young people under the age of 18 who find themselves in situations of danger (abandonment, negligence, sexual abuse, underage labour, among others).

Indeed, the scale of child abuse in its various forms is still not totally known, but it’s serious enough that the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (National Health Service) has come to organise itself to respond better to a problem “that affects a large proportion of the population in the first decades of life”, explains Bárbara Menezes, a nurse at Loulé Centro de Saúde.

“The phenomenon of abuse is complex – and these days it’s recognised as a clinical entity”, continues Menezes, who is also regional coordinator for «Acção da Saúde para Crianças e Jovens em Risco» (Health Action for Children and Youngsters at risk) – a recent Government initiative (approved on 5th December 2008 by Minister Ana Jorge).

One of the various measures of this plan is the creation of the so-called « Núcleos de Apoio à Criança e Jovem em Risco» (Support Nuclei for Children and Youngsters at Risk). In the Algarve, there are four of these working – at Faro Hospital, and in the health centres of Albufeira, Loulé and Olhão. At national level, for the time being, there are another 16 in hospitals and a further 47 at health centres, involving 63 professionals.

One of the main missions is “to try and ensure that risk situations are detected earlier”. “A lot of children appear with real behavioural problems between the ages of six and eight – at the beginning of their school education. These children have certainly been subjected to previous situations of abuse. The role of the nuclei is to make professionals, like doctors, pediatricians etc., sufficiently aware to be able to detect alarm signals – as early as possible”, Menezes explained.

For Rui Lourenço, president of the Administração Regional de Saúde do Algarve (regional health administration) “sometimes, a situation of risk is such that the risk is not immediately visible. It could be a case of quitting school early – or the fact that the minor did not take part in a health plan”.

Police authorities also deal with these kind of problems everyday. Ana Paula Rito, coordinator for criminal investigation with the Directoria de Faro da Polícia Judiciária (Judicial police, Faro) elaborated on what she considers to be a “difficult job”.

“We have an idyllic vision of investigation – something that TV and the cinema have a lot to answer for. In reality – and particularly when it comes to minors – everything’s a lot more complicated. We have to pay attention that we’re dealing with children, so that any judicial intervention or penal processes are the least painful possible”, she said.

It’s the job of these police to intervene in crimes “against the liberty and sexual decision-making of minors, or those who cannot make these types of decisions”. This also includes scenarios involving the sexual abuse of children, sex acts with adolescents, pornography and the prostitution/ pimping of minors.

“If we do a detailed analysis, the majority of cases we come across involve very small children. Everyday we receive a huge variety of situations in which the only witnesses are the child victim and the abuser/ aggressor – and this puts us in huge difficulties when it comes to prosecution. We’re often frustrated because we want to protect the child – and make sure that the aggressor ends up in court.”

Equally, the authorities also have a lot of trouble dealing with parents’ lack of judgment and common sense. “We receive a lot of false accusations – particularly when parents are involved in litigation. They seem to think it’s always better to call the police – because this reduces the likelihood of parental responsibility being given to the other partner. But, in the end, the only one who suffers is the child.”

Ana Paula Rito also talked about the problem of child pornography networks and the importance of international collaboration. During the debate, discussion turned to the recent case in the press of “Alexandra”, the little Russian girl who was recently returned to her biological mother after a Portuguese judicial ruling.

“There’s a lot of talk about the overriding interests of the child – and what we see too often are judicial decisions which don’t serve these interests at all. Does the person in charge of defining the law really know what the superior interests of the child passing through his hands are?” asked a jurist from the Instituto de Apoio à Criança (Institute for the Support of the Child), also present.

At the end of the open session, all the experts agreed that “in the face of a growing number of cases, means (of intervention and support) are always insufficient” and that the path to follow when it comes to child protection “is that of collective responsibility and the earliest possible detection of problems”.