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VTAĮT reports that in 2020 it was recorded at 22 percent. more reports on violations of children’s rights, a total of more than 39 thousand. Of these, 28 percent. they were repeated.
“We see a very good trend that the attitudes of our society are changing, that even the children themselves report that their rights are being violated, that violence is taking place against them. Confidence in the service is growing, people are informing, they care, ”said Ilma Skuodienė, director of the service, during a press conference on Thursday.
According to I. Skuodienė, as soon as the quarantine was announced in the spring, people were in no rush to report possible violations. Most of them were received in August. This could be due to extremely limited social contacts, general concentration of people:
“If you remember, in 2020. There were a lot of cases of children falling out of windows, the summer was very tense. Those three months were especially important.”
There was less violence
Violence against children in 2020 was recorded less frequently, but, as the head of the service I. Skuodienė says, these are only numbers and do not necessarily reflect the real situation.
Last year almost 1,500 cases of possible physical violence against children were identified. There were significantly fewer cases of sexual and psychological violence, several hundred each.
Adolescents between 10 and 14 years old are the most vulnerable and, according to the data available to the service, 20% of children have suffered violence. more than girls.
“However, the quarantine, as I mentioned, due to our closed life and isolation, does not really reflect the real situation, how much violence there was,” said I. Skuodienė.
According to I. Skuodienė, it is also interesting that violence against children occurs more frequently in urban areas than in rural areas. In both 2019 and 2020, in cities, this problem was faced by almost a thousand. times more often.
“It is worth highlighting the attitude of the school communities, health professionals and communities living in rural areas to the situation.
I don’t think there is less violence in rural areas. I believe that the less differentiated forms of violence and the limits of tolerance to violence are broader in cities ”, said the specialist.
The decreasing violence against children in 2018 may have had an impact on the gradually decreasing violence. The so-called “Matuko Reform” was registered, which tightened the childcare requirements for parents. It started four years ago when a four-year-old boy, Matt, was murdered in the family.
“A great advance is the public agreement that physical violence is not. Public intolerance, response to complaints. Recently, we have seen that many relatives actually report situations in the family, with the expectation of helping and providing service to the family” said I. Skuodienė on the impact of the reform.
A child rights specialist told shocking stories
Last year, the fewest reports were from Utena County, most of it from Šiauliai. Kaunas was in second place according to the number of reports, Vilnius was in third place.
“If we statistically compare how many children live in Šiauliai county and how many reports there were, the child rights specialists spoke to one in eight children,” explains I. Skuodienė.
According to Gedas Batulevičius, director of the Vilnius City Department for the Protection of Children’s Rights, the capital is distinguished from other cities by its “sophistication”, one third of which is about parental divorce. Addiction problems and related physical and psychological violence remain a particularly sensitive problem.
“Imagine a child jumping out of a chair when you hear that he will be able to go with his mother. In the same second, he shrugs his shoulders and runs towards the guardian on duty, hugging his head. Question: are you driving together? Because Mom may be drunk, Mom may get angry.
Another situation is that a child who was caring for his mother after the attacks of another father finally lost her. He freezes every time he hears something about his father. After being in a safe environment for three months, receiving the help of specialists, he refuses to see it even remotely ”, says G. Batulevičius about the stories of people we meet every day.
More life boxes for kids
Last year also stood out for the number of children who were left in the cells of life: there were ten in total. In 2019, four of those cases were registered, and in 2018. – Three.
“We believe it is insecurity, mistrust, lack of financial resources, lack of emotional support, conflict situation in the family,” said I. Skuodienė about the reasons why newborns are more frequently in the windows of life .
Three children were left in Vilnius and Šiauliai, two in Kaunas, one in Alytus and one in Klaipėda.
Child rights professionals ask midwives to pay attention to the mother’s condition and when she notices that she is very sad or apathetic or, on the contrary, shows very strong emotions, do not leave her alone and help her directly.
Children’s rights professionals welcome the decision to allow children with difficulties to return to school and warn that institutions must be prepared to provide psychological support to children when they begin to return to school.
In 2021, the service promises to pay more attention to adolescents and their problems, as it is observed that it is this group that experiences the most violence.
The service promises to increase the public’s trust in it, as well as to establish closer ties with children: preparations are being made for the establishment of a Children’s Council, where representatives of the service will discuss problems with children.
According to I. Skuodienė, the service seeks not only to respond to problems when their families arise, but also to help the families.
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