Noemí Pereda: “This country has cases of sexual violence and abuse”
"The main problem of children violence sexual abuse is the silence and secrets that go with these situations", notes Noemí Pereda, lecturer of Victimology at the Faculty of Psychology and director of the Research Group on Child and Adolescent Victimization (GReVIA) of the University of Barcelona. Pereda is one of the invited speakers in the XIV Congrés Internacional dʼInfància Maltractada (14th international conference on child abuse), to be held in Mundet Campus of the University of Barcelona, from November 21 to 25, under the logo “no hablar, no ver, no oir: demos visibilidad al maltrato infantil” (no talking, no seeing, no hearing: giving visibility to child abuse).
"The main problem of children violence sexual abuse is the silence and secrets that go with these situations", notes Noemí Pereda, lecturer of Victimology at the Faculty of Psychology and director of the Research Group on Child and Adolescent Victimization (GReVIA) of the University of Barcelona. Pereda is one of the invited speakers in the XIV Congrés Internacional dʼInfància Maltractada (14th international conference on child abuse), to be held in Mundet Campus of the University of Barcelona, from November 21 to 25, under the logo “no hablar, no ver, no oir: demos visibilidad al maltrato infantil” (no talking, no seeing, no hearing: giving visibility to child abuse).
After 29 years of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (November 20, 1989), we talk with Pereda on the importance of this document, back then and now.
The Convention of the Rights of the Child, ratified by almost 200 countries, meant that for the first time, children would have universal rights, regardless of their origins, and specific rights for being underage -which involved a responsibility, protection and care by adults. This is a relevant document but it is still not respected in many countries, although most of them did sign it.
There is still a lot of work to do…
Yes. I think it is important to follow the “think global, act local” motto in this field. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not only violated in certain areas, with specific social and economic features, like ours. In Spain, we will not find child labour exploitation in factories or mines, but we can find it in beauty, music or cooking contests, working as actors, or sexualized as models. We may not have soldier kids, but we create arms so that children from other countries use them. We may not be a paradise destination for child sex tourism, but there are parents who prostitute their kids, child pornography producers and serious situations of sexual aggressions and abuse.
The international conference on child abuse states “no talking, no seeing, no hearing: giving visibility to child abuse”. Do we talk enough about this topic?
No. this is the main problem: the silence and secrets that go with these situations. The kid cannot talk because s/he is afraid, ashamed or feels guilty. And adults who surround this kid and who should be protective -according to the principles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child- do not talk either due several reasons, but mainly because they lack sensitivity and knowledge on this problem. They are not aware of the serious consequences of the child, and do not know the process to follow to report these cases. A study I published last year showed 84.4 % out of the 182 educational professionals in 17 schools in Barcelona had not received training on child victimization. Also, although the 74.4 % said they had detected some cases, only 27.6 % of them had reported it. This is the reality on child abuse.
I though prevention, detection and treatment of child abuse had progressed over the last years.
During the 90s, there was a big movement in Spain and specially in Catalonia, and many protocols and resources to bring important changes on protection and care were set. Now, after some years, the crisis has brought a significant reduction in measures and aids on the field of children, we can say there is a bigger awareness and more interest to learn. The administrations are more involved, they fund projects for the study of this topic and require specific training for the professionals who work with children.
Is this specific training guaranteed?
The University has not been responsible for this yet. There are not courses on how to detect, diagnose and treat an abused child in important studies such as Psychology or Medicine.
Sometimes we forget that, apart from a crime, child abuse is a health problem with biological and psychological consequences.
Indeed. Child sexual abuse and violence are not only crimes and should not be treated as legal issues. They are mainly public health problems, with consequences that affect all of us. If we treat child sexual abuse and violence as crimes, we are only focusing on the perpetrator and the punishment, and we forget about the victim and his or her needs. If we change the view, we can see the punishment is a part of the problem regarding the social need of correcting offenses, but the victim needs care and resources to recover.
There are many cases of child abuse in which the abuser is a member of the family. Which mechanisms would prevent that from happening?
Many sexual abuses are committed by people from the family environment and people who the victim knew. Abusers use this relationship with the kid to get closer, manipulate him/her and keep the silence. Many cases of child violence are not bullying or school harassment caused by other kids but cases where the perpetrator is an adult, usually someone who takes care of them and represents affection and protection. This is the reality but we are not comfortable with it. We cannot prevent these situations from happening 100% but we can reduce the amount of cases and their length so their effects are not that big.
How?
Apart from specific training which should be given, we need a larger social sensitization regarding child abuse. Violence against children can only be treated from a holistic perspective. We cannot segment it into typologies, because all kinds of violence are connected. This is the web of violence and the perspective from which we work in my team in GReVIA. The child victim of today can be a school bully tomorrow. Training and awareness are the key. Last, we need an educational and familiar environment where communication with kids is fluid and frequent since in many situations the only way to know what happens is the kid saying so.