The Educational Seminar on "Children - Vulnerable Witnesses" was held with great success on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at the Supreme Court, which was organised by the Cyprus School of Magistrates in collaboration with "The Voice" and with the Honourable Lady Dorrian, Judge of the Supreme Court of Scotland as the official guest.
The President of the Supreme Court, Ms. Persephone Panagi, in her address, pointed out that for any favoured democratic society, the proper treatment of children in the justice systems should be considered a matter of paramount importance. Particularly to encourage the participation of children in justice through the establishment of procedural safeguards and the adoption of good practices, she said that "it is necessary to take into account the specific needs of children in general and separately, when they are in particular vulnerable situations, such as in the case of children who are victims of trafficking and separated from their families, children seeking asylum, children with disabilities or with migrant status". At the same time, he stressed that with the equal participation of children in judicial proceedings, the integrity of the judicial system should under no circumstances be called into question and that the "requirement for a fair trial and respect for equality of arms between parties is considered an absolute requirement".
The Director of the School of Magistrates, Mr. George Erotokritou, also addressed the seminar, who stressed the importance of the seminar - the first of its kind to be organised for Cypriot Magistrates - since until recently in Cyprus and in several countries in Europe there was no proper treatment of a child, especially in cases of child abuse. He pointed out that now Judges, in addition to the existing case law of the Supreme Court, have at their disposal tools and statutory special provisions that can help them "not only on how a child's testimony should be taken, but also on how his/her testimony should be evaluated".
In her address, Ms Despo Michaelidou, Commissioner for the Protection of Children's Rights, stressed the fundamental need for the judge to "adopt a child-centred view" so as to understand that a child, whether in the position of joint witness or accused, remains a child "and that in every case in the application of the law the best interests of the child should be given priority".
Mrs. Anastasia Papadopoulou, President of the "Voice" Council, noted encouragingly in her address that "if one looks back over the last 10 years or so in Cyprus, one will see that it is the cooperation at various levels, between various agencies, individuals, organisations that has achieved the admittedly great progress in Cyprus in the fight against sexual abuse and exploitation of children."
The keynote speaker at the Seminar was the Honourable Judge Lady Dorrian. In her excellent presentation on "Ways of Handling Children as Witnesses", after describing the Scottish experience and efforts to modernise and the progress made, she highlighted in detail the challenges faced by the Courts, the need for change in the process of handling children as witnesses, the effectiveness of the new rules without affecting the safeguarding of a fair trial and the need for Judges to have the knowledge and tools to deal with underage witnesses.
The President of the District Court, Ms. Elena Efraim, also participated as a speaker. Ms. Efraim's presentation focused on the Supreme Court's case law regarding the treatment of children as witnesses, the evaluation of their testimony and the role of experts in relation to the conduct of children in child abuse cases. This was followed by a short presentation on the "House of the Child" by Senior Social Worker and Coordinator for the "House of the Child" Mr. Marios Nikolaou, while Ms. Tania Massia, Psychologist-Psychotherapist and Coordinator at the "House of the Child", developed the topic "The behaviour of a child as a victim of sexual abuse".
The Seminar was attended by Judges of District Courts and Courts of Appeal.
After completion of the presentations, the participants had the opportunity to take part in discussion and case studies, both in small groups and in plenary.
The Seminar is part of the Judicial School's funding from the Recovery and Resilience Project.
(MGS)
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