Q:
A:
Violence against children on the increase
Belgrade,
10 April 2008
Serbian Minister of Employment and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic stated today at the presentation of the national strategy for the prevention of violence and protection of children that all forms of violence against children are on the increase, especially peer violence.
Author:
Fonet
Ljajic said that nearly 44% of children in Serbia were victims of peer violence in school, while nearly 72% suffered some kind of mental or physical abuse.
He noted that according to social work centres, 2,275 children were recorded as victims of molestation in 2005, 2,771 in 2006, a 22% increase.
The most vulnerable are children from poor communities, the Roma population, children with special needs and children without parental care, he said.
Representative of the Council for the Rights of the Child Veronika Ispanovic-Radojkovic said that one of the strategy’s objectives will be to establish a system for collecting and analysing data on violence against children.
She added that measures will be taken according to the strategy in order to improve legislation pertaining to the prevention of child abuse, which involves harmonising current laws with international legal standards, and the adoption of new laws.
The draft of the strategy will be finalised and presented to the Serbian government for adoption, she said, adding that according to data from 2002, children up to 14 years of age make up 19.6% of the Serbian population.
The draft of the national strategy for the prevention of child abuse states that no precise statistics are available in Serbia on the exact magnitude of the problem of child abuse, since no central system has been established for this purpose.
The data available comes mainly from NGOs or cases registered by social care centres or the Ministry of Interior.
He noted that according to social work centres, 2,275 children were recorded as victims of molestation in 2005, 2,771 in 2006, a 22% increase.
The most vulnerable are children from poor communities, the Roma population, children with special needs and children without parental care, he said.
Representative of the Council for the Rights of the Child Veronika Ispanovic-Radojkovic said that one of the strategy’s objectives will be to establish a system for collecting and analysing data on violence against children.
She added that measures will be taken according to the strategy in order to improve legislation pertaining to the prevention of child abuse, which involves harmonising current laws with international legal standards, and the adoption of new laws.
The draft of the strategy will be finalised and presented to the Serbian government for adoption, she said, adding that according to data from 2002, children up to 14 years of age make up 19.6% of the Serbian population.
The draft of the national strategy for the prevention of child abuse states that no precise statistics are available in Serbia on the exact magnitude of the problem of child abuse, since no central system has been established for this purpose.
The data available comes mainly from NGOs or cases registered by social care centres or the Ministry of Interior.
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