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Recommendation 1934 (2010)1

Child abuse in institutions: ensuring full
protection of the victims

1. The Parliamentary Assembly is greatly
concerned by the extent to which children and adolescents in
Council of Europe member states have suffered from sexual,
physical and emotional abuse in past decades. Problems of
abuse continue to exist in various institutions, including
public and private educational facilities, childcare
residences, correctional facilities for young offenders,
leisure associations and others. The Assembly is further
concerned by the lack of committed action that has sometimes
been observed when it comes to dealing with offences against
minors, who are amongst the most vulnerable members of
society.

2. The Assembly is convinced that all
authorities and institutions need to critically review past
action and take more far-reaching measures in the future when
it comes to according full justice to victims of past
offences, to supporting children affected by recent abuse and
ongoing legal procedures and to protecting children from
future abuse. No authority or institution should be exempt
from critical review, as all institutions without exception
are subject to the same national legislation, in particular in
the field of criminal law. Governments need to take more
committed action at national level in the future when it comes
to reinforcing legislation on child abuse and applying it to
various institutional contexts.

3. Article 19 of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges all contracting
parties to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative,
social and educational measures to protect the child from all
forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect
or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
including sexual abuse” and requires that such measures should
“include effective procedures for the establishment of social
programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for
those who have the care of the child”. At the level of the
Council of Europe, the Convention on the Protection of
Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS
No. 201, Lanzarote Convention), which entered into force on 1
July 2010, contains clear and complete provisions concerning
sexual abuse of children. The convention clearly states that,
when “abuse is made of a recognised position of trust,
authority or influence over the child”, each party shall take
the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that
engaging in intentional conduct relating to sexual activities
with a child is criminalised. The Assembly further reminds
member states of Recommendation Rec(2005)5 of the Committee of
Ministers on the rights of children living in residential
institutions which recognises the right “to respect for the
child’s human dignity and physical integrity; in particular,
the right to conditions of human and non-degrading treatment
and a non-violent upbringing, including the protection against
corporal punishment and all forms of abuse”. The Assembly
emphasises the importance of further promoting, signing,
ratifying and implementing these instruments so as to enhance
their impact on the situation of children.

4. With regard to the cases of child abuse
which have recently been uncovered and continue to be
uncovered, and the existing standards referring to sexual,
physical and emotional abuse of children, the Assembly
recommends that the Committee of Ministers ask member states
to:

4.1. ensure legislative protection, notably
by:

4.1.1. adopting legislation to explicitly
prohibit all forms of violence against children: physical and
mental violence, injury or abuse (including sexual abuse),
neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
including in childcare institutions, public and private
educational institutions, correctional facilities and leisure
associations, and thus criminalising any intentional abuse of
a child made by a person in a recognised position of trust,
authority or influence over the child;

4.1.2. providing for ex officio
prosecution in cases of child abuse in any context;

4.1.3. introducing a system of “graded
prosecution” of child abuse according to the gravity of the
offence;

4.1.4. ensuring that prescription periods for
child abuse offences under civil and criminal law are coherent
and appropriate in view of the gravity of the offences and, in
any case, do not begin before the victim reaches the age of
majority;

4.1.5. defining or revising the rights and
responsibilities of educational staff;

4.1.6. defining or revising the minimum
requirements for the certification of childcare institutions
(such as residential care homes, public and private
educational facilities, day-care institutions, etc.) and
conditions to be fulfilled by their management;

4.1.7. making police clearance certificates
for professional and voluntary staff working closely with
children (which should also include minor offences)
compulsory;

4.1.8. defining as illegal and excluding
certain practices with regard to the punishment of minors in
institutions which are contrary to their dignity and
rights;

4.2. identify possible structural
shortcomings in all types of institutions and adapt existing
administrative systems wherever necessary, by:

4.2.1. examining the factors that facilitate
child abuse in the various institutions and taking specific
action to respond to them;

4.2.2. based on this acquired knowledge,
developing and monitoring internal guidelines for the
prevention of child abuse, which are to be applied by and to
all institutions without exception;

4.2.3. reinforcing rules and modalities for
the external supervision of various institutions, notably
ensuring that institutions are never run and supervised by the
same authority and giving clear and understandable structures
and mandates to bodies in charge of control;

4.2.4. developing specific training and
continuous education programmes for all professionals and
volunteers working with children and adolescents, to enable
them both to identify potential abuse and to react to it in an
appropriate manner; such training and education programmes
should also be relevant for police, prosecutors and judges
responsible for following up on child abuse;

4.2.5. ensuring that staff and children know
about the internal guidelines of their institutions (and their
respective rights);

4.2.6. setting up neutral, independent and
child-sensitive bodies that children can safely access and
consult in all confidentiality whenever they feel threatened,
suffer abuse or witness it in their institutions;

4.3. apply a broad spectrum of political
measures to support and accompany legislative and
administrative measures, including:

4.3.1. launching national processes and
enquiries dealing with past offences, including their
extensive evaluation and documentation, so as to accord full
justice to victims, including some form of compensation to be
defined, as well as easy and unbureaucratic access to
therapeutic help;

4.3.2. developing, in the context of legal
procedures and relevant follow-up by social services,
child-friendly mechanisms and structures for victims of sexual
abuse which will avoid their secondary victimisation;

4.3.3. undertaking further research on the
issue so as to fully understand the scope, nature and causes
of the problems encountered and to learn lessons from the past
in order to determine future action required;

4.3.4. developing, implementing and
monitoring comprehensive strategies aimed at the prevention of
child abuse of all kinds, involving all stakeholders
concerned, namely public authorities, private and religious
organisations who run institutions, non-governmental
organisations, families and not least children and adolescents
themselves, and including the following measures:

4.3.4.1. developing practical tools such as
national action plans, guidelines and codes of conduct for
institutions and professionals working with and for
children;

4.3.4.2. raising awareness of the importance
of strengthening children through loving, trustful and
supportive family or family-type environments, which allow
them to recognise violence or unwanted sexual or physical acts
as something wrong;

4.3.4.3. developing comprehensive services
for children, including counselling, complaint and reporting
mechanisms, and support services to help to protect them, and
to help victims to recover, to reintegrate and to obtain
compensation;

4.3.4.4. developing strategies for child and
youth participation, so as to consult them on their needs;

4.3.4.5. ensuring that prevention can also
tackle possible offenders before they abuse children, notably
by training relevant professionals (medical, psychological and
educational staff) to recognise them and take appropriate
action;

4.3.5. generally raising awareness about
child abuse in the institutional context, including through
public information campaigns.

5. The Assembly further recommends that the
Committee of Ministers:

5.1. invite member states to sign and ratify
the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children
against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote
Convention), if they have not yet done so, and implement it
through committed national follow-up action;

5.2. invite national governments and
parliaments and any other public or private organisation
concerned, to join, support and contribute to the Council of
Europe Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence against Children, to
be launched on 29 and 30 November 2010 in Rome;

5.3. instruct the relevant intergovernmental
bodies of the Council of Europe, notably those related to the
Programme Building a Europe for and with Children and its
strategy 2009-2011, to incorporate the aims of the campaign in
their activities, particularly with regard to promoting the
fight against child abuse in institutions by following the
broad approach set out under paragraph 4 above;

5.4. invite all international organisations,
including the European Union, agencies of the United Nations
and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, to support the Council of
Europe Campaign to Stop Sexual Violence against Children.

6. The Assembly invites all stakeholders
concerned by child abuse in institutions in some way to
co-operate and to contribute to the rapid revision of current
legislative, structural and political situations, and to take
further committed action against child abuse in institutions,
as well as against all other categories of child abuse.

7. The Assembly resolves to develop the
parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to
Stop Sexual Violence against Children with a view to
associating national parliaments with the campaign and
promoting the signature, ratification and implementation of
the Lanzarote Convention.

8. Finally, the Assembly invites the
Committee of Ministers, after having consulted with the
government of every member state, to report back to the
Assembly by January 2013 on the measures implemented and
results achieved so far during the campaign in each country in
relation to each point of this recommendation. The Assembly
also invites all observer states to report back in a similar
fashion.

1. Assembly debate on 5
October 2010 (31st Sitting) (see Doc.
12358, report of the Social, Health and Family Affairs
Committee, rapporteur: Mrs Rupprecht). Text adopted by the
Assembly on 5 October 2010 (31st Sitting).

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