Justice Minister and Director of National Children’s Service launch first “Observatory on Teenage and Child Sexual Abuse in Chile”
At the National Children’s Home (Casa Nacional del Niño), the Justice Minister Javiera Blanco and the Director of the National Children’s Service, Marcela Labraña, launched the first “Observatory on Teenage and Child Sexual Abuse in Chile”, a digital platform of data and statistics on child abuse in Chile which has been made publically available.
The Justice Minister emphasized the significance of the platform which brings together information on child sexual abuse from various ministries and public services. She warned that “around 25,000 cases of sexual abuse have been reported to the Public Prosecution Ministry, of which 10% have resulted in convictions. Therefore the first question we must ask ourselves is what happened to the other 90%.”
She highlighted the progress that has been made in addressing this problem, including “greater restrictions on prison privileges for people convicted of child sexual abuse and the introduction of a sex offenders’ register that bars anyone convicted of sex offences from working in educational establishments. She also mentioned “preventative methods such as the possibility of organizing dialogs and forums with teachers with direct contact with children at risk, specialist NGO’s, as well as with children and adolescents.”
Finally, she confirmed that the priorities for the Justice Ministry are to strengthen its judicial representation programs and to push through a number of legislative bills including the bill to strengthen the Public Prosecution Ministry, the bill to create the Human Rights Undersecretary, the legal definition of the crime of torture; and the bill to allow video-recorded statements by child abuse victims to avoid secondary victimization.”
Meanwhile the Director of the National Children’s Service, Marcela Labraña, explained that the primary objective of the “Observatory on Child and Teenage Sexual Abuse” is to make abuse visible. She explained that “feeling outraged when we hear about child abuse in the news is not enough, because many cases are never reported by the media. This observatory brings together all of the cases; those that were reported by the media and those that were not.”
The interactive platform was launched on Saturday with data from the Social Development Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Crime Prevention Undersecretary, the Forensic Medical Service, and the National Children’s Service. It can be accessed via the National Children’s Service website at www.sename.cl
Abuse does not differentiate by location
“Thanks to the figures from the Observatory we can dispel the myth that only children in the poorest regions of Chile are abused. Sexual abuse does not discriminate by region, district or neighborhood, it exists throughout Chile, which is why the National Children’s Service is committed to protecting children’s rights by having offices in every district of the country, from the most remote to the most affluent, in every district without exception”, explained Marcela Labraña as she presented the new platform to the press.
The figures, which the National Children’s Service Director described as “shameful”, revealed that 593 children aged 0-3 years old were referred to the Forensic Medical Service for examination for rape, sexual assault and other sexual crimes in 2014. Young adolescents were the worst affected age group with 417 reported cases involving 14 year olds and 514 cases involving 13 year olds.
The Los Lagos and Tarapacá regions had the highest rates of sexual abuse relative to the number of children and teenagers living in each region.
Meanwhile in the Metropolitan region, there were 382 female and 84 male victims of rape.
The city districts of Arica and Antofagasta had the highest number of child sexual exploitation victims.
According to figures from the Forensic Medical Service, the majority of forensic examinations involved children aged between 0 and 3 years old, with 593 examinations in 2014. By making this information available on the platform, the National Children’s Service hopes to raise awareness of the problem and encourage more victims to come forward. In addition to the National Children’s Service website and local offices throughout Chile, a toll-free phone number has been set up on 800 730 800 which is available 365 days a year.