Everyone who works with children should know how to identify signs of sexual abuse and how to report it, argues the president of the Quebrar o Silêncio association, which will launch a manual for professionals that will be distributed throughout all schools.
The manual, which is called “Basic principles for preventing sexual violence against children: know, identify and act”, is today publicly presented, as part of the “II Conference on Sexual Violence”, in Lisbon.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Ângelo Fernandes explained that this is “an effort by the Quebrar o Silêncio association to contribute to the prevention of sexual violence against children”.
“Throughout the two training sessions we held with professionals, we realized that there is still a lot of misinformation about these topics and about what sexual violence against children is, what the impact is, the consequences, why children don’t share the their experiences”, pointed out the person in charge.
For this reason, said Ângelo Fernandes, the association understood that “it would be premature and even dangerous to work on prevention in schools, when professionals do not have the basic principles”.
According to the person responsible, the guide is aimed at “any professional who, in the exercise of their profession, deals with children and young people”, whether teachers, operational assistants or “anyone who works in schools” or has contact with this population. , arguing that “it is essential that you have this knowledge”.
Ângelo Fernandes said that, since crimes of a public nature are involved, there is a dimension of professional responsibility for those who work with children, which makes “mandatory reporting a duty”.
The president of Quebrar o Silêncio, an association that was created to support men victims of sexual abuse, said that many of these professionals are not only unaware that these crimes are of a public nature, but also expressed that they do not know what to do if they suspect that a child or young person has been a victim.
“We noticed that there is a great diversity in the responses. There are those who say they will speak to the management [of the school], there are those who say they will speak to the psychologist, there are those who say they will speak to the family, there are those who say they will speak to the CPCJ [commission for the protection of children and young people]”, he pointed out, arguing that action must be standardized.
In this regard, he highlighted that there are situations in which it may not make sense to talk to the family, since in many cases of sexual abuse of children that is where the abuser is, and recalled that the “responsibility of the investigation lies with the Judiciary Police, under the direction of the Public Ministry”.
He highlighted, on the other hand, that the duty of prevention lies with adults and not children, and that there are several ways to involve younger people in preventing sexual abuse without having to openly talk about rape or pedophilia.
According to Ângelo Fernandes, the guide had the support of several entities, including the Judiciary Police and the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Young People, as well as the Ministry of Education, “which will distribute the guide to Portuguese schools ”, which will make the manual reach all professionals.
The president of Quebrar o Silêncio highlighted that support from the Ministry of Education “is fundamental”, since “children spend most of their time in schools”, which justifies the importance and need to train those who work there.
In addition to the public presentation and distribution to schools, the guide is also available for free download on the association's website.
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