General Information

General Information

Child abuse and neglect (CAN) which is generally called as "Child Maltreatment" (CM) has been one of the underlying phenomena all over the world for a long time.Even while reading the first line of this project,it is not so difficult to say that lots of children are exposed to abuse and neglect around the world.1 billion children aged 2-17 experienced physical, sexual, emotional or multiple types of violence in 2014 worldwide.We have to note that these are only recorded statistics.According to World Health Organization (WHO), CAN or CM is defined as “all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment,sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health,survival,development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility,trust or power.”

Although child abuse is conceptualized within the community only in sexual forms,with a rising awareness in the society, the other forms of abuse; physical, emotional and neglection have also come into prominence.Although 142 countries signed the Child Rights agreement in the world, any kind of abuse happens continuously even in the most developed countries,unfortunately.According to WHO 23% of the children in the World suffer from physical abuse,36% of them suffer from emotional abuse,26% of them suffer from sexual abuse.WHO’s European report on CM indicates that 18 million children suffer from sexual abuse,44 million from physical abuse and 55 million from mental abuse (European Report on Preventing Child Maltreatment, WHO 2013).From the statistics, we can say that CAN or CM is not a national but a global problem.With this reason, the Prevention of child abuse and Maltreatment has become a priority in Europe and European Commission has started to give importance to children’s rights.Under the control of Council of Europe, several steps have been taken so far and right now “Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child” is in process (https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/).In this context,many committees and organizations have come together to protect children’s rights in each platform.

To create awareness across Europe and in the World, the date “18th of November” was accepted as European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in 2015.Moreover, 47 European member states and some non-member states have signed “Lanzarote Convention” by which all forms of sexual offenses against children are criminalized.In addition to this with the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission aimed to protect children’s rights.Among the studies conducted in Europe, it's clearly seen that only half of the countries have strict punishments.On the other hand governmental services have been used but it is seen that its success couldn’t exceed 37%; Media campaigns have been organized but the effect couldn’t exceed 32%; Risk assessment methods have been used but success has been achieved only in 32% of respondents.When the precautions, foundations and other organizational legal ongoing actions are taken into consideration, it's clear to state that there are still many steps to take for prevention of CAN.In this project, it is aimed to take advantage of each partner country’s national powerful sides and partner organization’s top abilities with the awareness that only international and coordinated studies can enrich the process and enlarge the power of cultural phenomena from regional to global scale especially on such a critical matter.There are some core critical parameters about the issue: child/ family/ teacher.In this context,as the first environment in which the child is raised,the family and its relationship with the child is of prime importance.“

The family is the most suitable context in which to provide protection and physical and emotional security for children.However, the home can also be a dangerous place for them and the prevalence of violence against children by parents and other family members has been recognized over the last decades”(Violence towards children in the EU).As the first step of educational background of a child, the pedagogical sufficiency and awareness of family is crucial for the prevention and intervention of child abuse.Knowing the importance of family for children, we aim to increase the awareness of the families against violence towards children and in this context,families are the target group of the project both directly and indirectly.As the factors who contribute to the development of families,the trainers who teach families such delicate issues,will be trained to enchance their skills.Throughout the project;special,innovative and modern techniques will be used to form a bridge of communication for families with separate traditional values for each partner country.Thus we may make significant contribution to prevent child from abuse and neglect.Another contribution will be ensured to Society 5.0 by the projects output.