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Q&A: How Faith Communities Can Help Fight Violence Against Children

Interview with UNICEF expert Eduardo Gallardo

BOGOTÁ, Apr 30 2008 (IPS) - “It’s important to know how families view the power relations that make them protective or destructive of rights,” in a world where every year 275 million children witness scenes of domestic violence, said United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expert Eduardo Gallardo.

The figure mentioned by Gallardo is from the United Nations Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, carried out by Brazilian independent expert Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro in 2006.

Gallardo, a Chilean expert with UNICEF Humanitarian Action in Colombia, spoke to IPS correspondent Helda Martínez at the Monday to Wednesday regional conference on Interfaith Dialogue for Overcoming Domestic Violence in Bogotá.

“We all need to understand the phenomenon of violence against children, and how faith communities can work” to overcome it, said Gallardo, who has worked for UNICEF for 11 years in Chile, Paraguay and Colombia.

The conference, organised by the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC), is being supported by the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM), World Vision International, a Christian relief organisation, and UNICEF.

Among its goals is to promote a wide-ranging and effective dialogue to tackle the problems of children who are victims of violence because of social or economic marginalisation and cultural and emotional patterns, and to offer concrete instruments to help heal the violence through ethical education.

IPS: Why is UNICEF taking part in this interfaith dialogue?

EDUARDO GALLARDO: No religion really accepts any kind of violence against children or teenagers, because all religions are based on the idea of the dignity of human beings.

This conference is allowing us to enter into dialogue with the different religions, and through them, to address the concept of the family, which is intrinsically linked to religious thought.

It’s important to know how families view the power relations that make them protective or destructive of rights, in the light of the enormous influence religions have on people’s lives.

IPS: Compared to your experience in other Latin American countries, what do you think of the situation of children in Colombia?

EG: Colombia shares all the problems that Latin American countries have. It is affected by the incapacity of its institutions, the need to modernise its legislation, and budgetary problems.

But in addition, the armed conflict that has been dragging on for many years in the country, apparently with little hope of any solution in the short term, has negatively affected children in many ways.

This situation makes Colombia a special case. It is a country of great challenges, but also of great potential for real change. I consider it important because of the skills and knowledge it generates.

IPS: UNICEF participated in drafting the Code for Children and Adolescents that has been in force in Colombia for just under a year. It provides for underage offenders to return home, where for economic and social reasons violence is often latent. What results has it had so far?

EG: The Code is consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which seeks to make deprivation of freedom the measure of last resort. We are working on alternatives, such as community work or foster families.

We are aware of the problem, and we think the justice system should determine whether the family of the young offender is able to take the child back. But it’s important to emphasise that not all young offenders’ families are criminal in any way. And there have even been cases where offending parents have managed to completely resocialise themselves, to the benefit of their children.

Certainly, investing in a teenager who has committed a first offence, to prevent him or her from committing a second crime, benefits the entire system. Any amount of spending is justifiable, and much is still lacking in this area.

IPS: What does the U.N. Study on Violence against Children say about Colombia?

EG: Not very much, because the study covers 200 countries. But it has contributed to stimulating debate, it drove the passage of the Code for Children and Adolescents and, as in many other countries, it mobilises people to protect children. The fact that the Study on Violence against Children is being presented here at this interfaith conference indicates the effect it has had in several countries.

IPS: Does UNICEF have influence on governments like that of Colombia, where expenditure on the war greatly exceeds investment in social security, let alone provision for children and teenagers?

EG: We are not the only players in this field, and it would be pretentious to say that UNICEF alone has contributed to raising global awareness in relation to children. It’s difficult to measure results, but I repeat, the Code for Children and Adolescents has been approved, and we are working on a new law on social protection against trafficking of children.

Together with other organisations, UNICEF has helped bring about a change in attitude towards children, who have gone from being seen as objects of charity to subjects of rights, and now states can be sued for denying rights they are responsible for safeguarding.

In Colombia, children are the purview of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF). Today, as a result of the Code, protection of children is also the responsibility of the president, governors and mayors, and the Attorney General’s Office must take action in cases of non-fulfilment.

Here violence against children is moving from a peripheral matter to a central one, governments have begun to meet frequently to address the issue, and there has been a great deal of mobilisation, to which local organisations, UNICEF and civil society have contributed.