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Description
Following the most recent amendment to the Criminal Code in 2017, the number of crimes reported committed against children, and thus the role of children in legal procedures, has increased. A child''s role in legal procedures equates to interviewing and representing the child, i.e. exercise of procedural rights, and participation - a child''s direct involvement. Meanwhile, in practice, a child''s protection is fragmentary, and depends on the resources regarding expert knowledge and institutional resources in the locations in which the harm occurs, and also on how professionals, who frequently do not have full psychological and legal knowledge, interpret provisions. The project includes a system of measures that have a mutual impact: training, creating tools (information packs, brochures, podcasts, posters, scripts), a public campaign, individual legal consultations conducted by telephone and e-mail, monitoring of formulation of the law and pending legal cases, observing court hearings, petitioning for changes to the law and submitting opinions of friends of the court, and study tours for law students to show them an interdisciplinary approach to helping child victims. The measures will be directed in a systemic manner towards people involved in keeping children from harm on three levels of preventative activity: children themselves, their parents/legal guardians and professionals who work in child protection, and the public at large. The project will lead to enhancement of the skills of professionals who deal with child victims of crime, increased legal protection, and exercise of procedural rights of minors who are victims of crime. It will also tighten up legal protection of minors where proceedings are conducted incorrectly.
Summary of project results
The project responds to the problem of insufficient protection for child victims of crime involved in legal procedures. According to the Project Promoter, 70% of adolescents aged 11-17 have experienced some form of abuse in their lives (2018), of which as many as 41% have been victims of violence by close adults. After the last amendment to the Penal Code in 2017, the number of reported crimes against children has increased and, consequently, the participation of children in legal procedures has increased. The interrogation of the child should be carried out in a special protective mode, but the experience of the Children''s Aid Centres in the last 2 years shows that - despite the existing legislation - the protection of children in legal procedures has regressed. In practice, child protection is fragmented, depending on substantive and institutional resources, as well as on the interpretation of the legislation by judges or prosecutors, who are often unaware of the protective mode of interrogation.
The project prepared and implemented a series of complementary activities on child protection in legal proceedings. Training sessions were held for mothers representing their children in criminal proceedings and training for professionals. Educational materials (brochures, podcasts, posters, scenarios, films) were published. Meetings were conducted within the framework of the Lawyer''s Club and the Children''s Rights Academy for students, and study visits to Children''s Aid Centres were organised. Parents, guardians and professionals benefited from several hundred individual legal consultations. Monitoring of four pieces of legislation and ongoing proceedings was carried out, court hearings were observed, a petition to change the law was submitted and 24 Friend of the Court opinions were issued. A lot of attention was paid, among others, to the institution of a probation officer. The activities were addressed to persons and institutions involved in the protection of children from abuse, as well as to the children themselves, their parents and broadly to the general public.
The project has increased the legal protection and implementation of the procedural rights of child victims of crime and improved their safety. At the individual level, change has occurred through the consultations provided and the Amicus Curiae letters addressed. Those working with children, including those employed in justice institutions, have improved their knowledge and competence in interviewing, representation and intervention on behalf of the child.