November 20 is International Children’s Rights Day that promotes the ideals and objectives of the charter and welfare of the children of the world. Even so, in a world with declinding mortality rates and an increased awareness of children’s needs, the Smile of the Child organization’s figures show that there are still too many children being exploited, mistreated and deprived of their fundamental needs and rights in Greece.
The Child of the Smile presented its figures for January to October and found that there were 629 reports for the mistreatment of 1,254 children of which 597 (47%) were boys, 503 (40%) were girls and 157 (13%) were of an unknown gender. 4 out of every 10 abused children were under the age of six years.
91% of the abusers were the children’s parents, either just one of the parents or both of them. 43% of the children had also suffered bodily harm whereas 49% were victims of abandonment or neglect.
From January 1, 2014, through to October 31, 2014, the Smile of the Child had to take care of 92 cases with the intervention of social services and psychologists. 91% of the 151 children needed to be immediately taken from their family environment, 8% needed psychological support or some other form of counselling, whereas 1% needed some other service. 11% of the children that were taken from their home environment found shelter at one of the charity’s homes.
“Child abuse is a phenomenon that concerns us every day and not just today,” said Costas Yannopoulos, founder of The Smile of the Child organization. “Everyday we encounter cases of abused children and we try to offer them a better future. The data presented today aren’t just figures. Behind every number, there’s a child. And behind every child, there’s a tragic story. Our reaction is the solution for a better and safer future for our children.”
Some case studies –
On an international level, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that 1 in 5 children and 1 in 10 boys fall victim to sexual abuse before the age of 18 whereas only one in three of these children report the crime. 20.9 million children around the world are victims of child labor and 4.5 million (22%) are sexually exploitted. 2 million children around the world are sexually exploited each year.
1056 – The Smile of the Child’s helpline is available for kids who need help or just parents and teachers who need anonymous advice from psychologists
UNICEF’s Children of the Recession report, released in September, argues that youth living in developed countries are suffering from the receession. in Greece, rougly 21% of youth were not in education, employment or training in 2013, up from 11.7% in 2008.
The BBC also reported on Greece’s autistic children that were locked up in cages. The BBC reporter was stunned during a visit to a Greek government-run “institution”, run by Gina Tsoukala (pictured), where staff fed kids through bars of wooden cages. The handicapped children were hosed down, spoon fed through cages and medicated. Some of them live in cages for over 10 years.
Gina Tsoukala, posing infront of the government center where kids are kept in cages
Up to 200,000 second generation immigrants who are born in Greece and know Greece as their only home are treated as ‘aliens’. A new campaign backed by young people is aimed at giving these children the same rights as other Europen citizens so that they don’t suffer from social and political exclusion and limited access to the job market.
