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- Ελληνικά
The first part of the 2024 session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concluded today. Mr Kostis Efstathiou, MP, presented today before the plenary session of the House, an Opinion on behalf of the Legal and Human Rights Committee on the issue of the exploitation of minors in Europe, which was adopted unanimously.
Mr Efstathiou's Opinion demonstrates the scope, frequency and dangerous dimensions of the phenomenon of exploitation of minors in private and public institutions in Europe.
As Mr Efstathiou stated in his intervention, particularly worrying are the cases of child abuse in state and religious institutions, where child victims, under the law of silence, have been exposed for long periods of time to degrading and abusive behaviour, with incalculable damage to their further psychological and physical development. According to official data and statistics, Mr Efstathiou added, the main forms of abuse include violence, sexual exploitation, forced institutionalisation and child abduction.
The Cypriot MP urged the competent national authorities to adopt a series of preventive and repressive measures and to draw up relevant action plans with all services involved so that abused children are not re-victimised through labyrinthine judicial and other procedures. The Lanzarote Convention for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe's European Social Charter are powerful legal tools in the hands of the parties to ensure that children receive the maximum possible protection and care, in accordance with their best interests.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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