Sofia, November 20 2015
Representatives of NGOs and government institutions gathered at a working meeting on topics concerning prevention of sexual violence and sexual abuse against children in institutions. The event took place in Sofia on November 20th 2015 and gave an opportunity for several different organizations, supported in their work by the OAK Foundation, to present the results from their research on the problems. Prof. Maya Grekova presented a summary of the research from the first half of this year, done under the Bulgarian Family Planning Association’s (BFPA) “The Art to Inform. A network for reducing vulnerability of children for sexual exploitation and abusive practices” project. Results from their own studies on those topics were presented also by the “Demetra” Association (from 2014) and the Social Activities and Practice Institute (from 2010).
During the follow-up debate on the forms of violence and sexual abuse the participants in the meeting sought possible solutions to those problems. Subject of discussion were the multilayer influence on the attitude of the victims and their behaviour afterwards, the sense of insecurity which they encounter – within themselves as well as from the environment.
Another topic of discussion was the meaning of personal attention and the consequences of the lack of attention, trust and betrayed trust, the necessity of emotional communication and love, as well as the need of a SIGNIFICANT ADULT in the life of every child.
The participants agreed that violence in institutions very often is not identified as such, that the police is seen as a restrictive force, rather than a protective one, that the children need an environment in which they can freely share and discuss their problems.
A part of the team that realized the field in-depth interviews also participated in the meeting.
As a part of the project activities was presented a good practice from Samokov, implemented under the ”Art to inform” project. Such interventions on prevention are being implemented in Tvurditza and Dobrich. The work on the topics will continue during 2016. The next meeting of the LAP is scheduled for the second half of February 2016.
You can find more about the project here
