Childhood and Adolescent Abuse
Throughout human's history, children have been passive subjects of abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Until 1974, there was no historical facts: Mary Ellen Wilson, a 9 year old girl, subject to severe physical abuse, was protected by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Animal protection legislation was used because there was no other legislation that would protect maltreated or abused children.
In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly signed the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC), an international treaty that recognized the human rights of children. Subsequently, in 2000, the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography was signed. In 2007, the Lanzarote Convention, the Council of Europe Convention for the protection of children and against exploitation and abuse, was signed.
The concern about the issue of maltreatment led to the creation of the Catalan Association for Infància Maltractada (ACIM) in Catalonia in 1988 and in Spain of the Federation of Associations for the Prevention of Child Abuse (FAPMI) two years later. Currently, the Organic Law on the integral protection of children and adolescents against violence, presented at the Congress of Deputies of Spain, is, despite its shortcomings, a good proposal to advance awareness and taking actions to stop this blot.
Sexual abuse and maltreatment occur in 90% of cases within the nuclear family and people known to the family. The Council of Europe is asking its Member states that it is urgent to address the issue of sexual abuse of children in the family in primary and secondary schools. This is the case with the “ONE in FIVE” campaign.
Silence, guilt, or shame are factors that make it difficult to detect cases and therefore to treat them early.
Awareness of this blot can prevent victims from repeating, as victims or as mistreators, the patterns of violence learned during childhood in the future.
It is important not to forget that children have access to pornographic content on the Internet at an ever-earlier age. This uncontrolled access has disastrous consequences for the psychosocial development of children and adolescents and for the increase of sexual aggressors under the age of 18.
Although there currently appears to be greater sensitivity and concern within society on the issue of child and adolescent abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse, this type of population remains largely invisible. This is due to difficulties in detection, individual and ongoing care of victims and their families, and to problems of network coordination among the different professionals and agencies involved. Therefore, we believe that drawing attention to the problem is necessary to raise awareness of the administration and the general population
18 November is the European Day for the Protection of Children from Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation. This year in 2020 it focuses on “Preventing risky behaviors of children: Self-generated sexual images and/or videos by children”.
