According to the National Institute of Legal Medicine, in the last year alone, more than 19 thousand cases of sexual abuse against minors have been registered in Colombia, that is, more than 50 events per day. The highest percentage corresponds to the group of 12 to 17 years old, with 10,713 cases.
Huila Newspaper,
By: Anderson Hernandez
The Attorney General’s Office requested the Ministry of Justice and the entities that are part of the Interinstitutional Committee in charge of the prevention and care of victims of sexual abuse, the actions carried out for the regulation and implementation of the National Early Warning System for prevention. of sexual violence against children and adolescents.
The request to the authorities is derived from the alerts generated regarding the figures of sexual violence against this population and due to some barriers such as the activation of the access route to justice for the victims, the lack of activation of the route before the health sector for care and in educational institutions, the absence of articulation with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the lack of institutional presence in remote regions or the impossibility of institutions to reach those regions and the institutional response times, among others. .
Shameful figures
In this sense, according to Legal Medicine, only in the first three months of 2024, 19,192 cases of sexual abuse against minors were reported, that is, 53 cases per day.
And the bill that regulates the registry of sexual abusers and establishes what positions and professions will be where people who have been convicted of sexual crimes against minors will not be able to work will be passed to conciliation.
This regulation is part of the regulation of the registry of sexual abusers, which will impose disqualifications for certain professions or positions that involve direct and frequent contact with minors. This is through a registry that all those who work with children will have to consult before hiring their staff.
The registry, which was created in a law in 2018 by Senator Nadia Blel, mandates that public and private entities that are in charge of the care, attention or service for children must consult and verify this list before hiring its staff, which is a powerful tool to protect children from sexual abusers.
“It is in those places that are supposed to be safe for children, such as schools, school routes, recreational centers among others, where we painfully see that cases of sexual abuse are often recorded. “With this initiative we want to ensure that these environments are safe, that the people responsible for the care of our children are appropriate, and that sexual abusers do not have the opportunity to reoffend,” the policy stated.
And the measures and strategies?
For its part, the Attorney General’s Office requested the Ministry of Justice and the entities that are part of the Interinstitutional Committee in charge of the prevention and care of victims of sexual abuse, the actions carried out for the regulation and implementation of the National Alert System. Early measures for the prevention of sexual violence against children and adolescents.
This request made to the authorities is derived from the alerts generated regarding the figures of sexual violence against this population and due to some barriers such as the activation of the access route to justice for the victims, the lack of activation of the route before the health sector for care and in educational institutions, the lack of coordination with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the lack of institutional presence in remote regions or the impossibility of the institutions to reach those regions and the institutional response times, among others.
The control entity stated that the National Government, through various ministries and entities, has the responsibility of implementing this alert system within a defined period, which includes the regulation of its functions and components, which is why it seeks to know the actions that are being taken in the Interinstitutional Committee in charge of the prevention and care of victims of sexual abuse, to ensure that appropriate measures are taken in this area.
sad panorama
The request, which requests the progress made in the formulation of policies that facilitate access to justice for girls, boys and adolescents who are victims of sexual crimes, was also sent to the Minister of Health and Social Protection, the Minister of Education, the vice minister of Women, the director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare and the commander of the National Police.
Likewise, and faced with the alarming panorama of violence against minors, the control entity confirmed the constitution of a special agency to intervene, as the Public Ministry, in the criminal process carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office for the homicide and sexual abuse of the child Alexis Delgado.
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A special agency was also formed to intervene in the procedures that will be carried out within the Rights Restoration Process in favor of a seven-year-old minor, a victim of abuse allegedly by her grandmother and step-grandfather, who caused serious injuries to her his body, from cigarette burns to loose teeth and nails in Sabanalarga, Atlántico.
Likewise, this entity reiterated its opposition to the proposal to reduce penalties for sexual crimes, included in Bill 281 of 2024, currently being debated in the Congress of the Republic.
aberrant facts
And the fact is that there are more and more aberrant events, where boys and girls are abused and murdered. Recently, the case of the girl, Sofía Delgado, who was missing in the municipality of Candelaria, Valle del Cauca, was known and was later found lifeless.
The authorities arrested Brayan Snaither Campo, 32 years old, as responsible for the minor’s crime.
Now, during the investigation process, the man took the authorities to the place where he had buried the girl’s body, in a rural area near Candelaria. Sofía’s remains were found wrapped in plastic bags and dismembered, a fact that has generated a wave of pain and indignation among the inhabitants of the municipality and the entire country.
In this sense, the Attorney General’s Office, through a prosecutor from the Cali Section, charged Campo Pillimue with the crimes of aggravated feminicide, aggravated simple kidnapping, aggravated attempted kidnapping and concealment, alteration and destruction of evidentiary material. During the hearing held before a guarantee control judge in Palmira, the accused accepted the four charges against him.
The legal process continues to advance, and it is expected that in the next few hours, the authorities will determine the custodial measure that will be imposed on the man who, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, was not only responsible for the retention, murder and concealment of Sofía’s body. Delgado, but also of a failed attempt to kidnap another minor.
“The figures confirm it, as of June 8, 2024, 66,621 cases of gender violence have been reported to the SIVIGILA of the INS, of which 75.6% have occurred in women, that is, 50,374 cases, and 24. 4% have occurred in men, that is, 16,247 cases. There is also a worrying record of 8,203 cases, 12.3% in children between 0 and 4 years of age. From the INS, we call for zero tolerance against any type of violence, especially against women and children, who are the most vulnerable,” explained Carlos Castañeda Orjuela, general director of the National Institute of Health.
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