Children’s and teenagers’ sexual abuse cases have increased in Venezuela. Although, probably, this increase is due to the silence breaking and there are more and more complaints. However, the Habla Foundation argues that not only has abuse increased, but it has mutated and there are now new edges in this regard.
Venezuela in alert
Recently, some institutions in different regions of the country have created headlines because they are involved in the crime of child sexual abuse or a network of child trafficking.
Likewise, people who have children, whose parents have faced the need to emigrate out of the country, under their care have been detained. This situation has been used by criminals to address and attack children.
Lawyers and experts estimate that sexual abuse cases and violence against infants occur more frequently than is made public. Besides the child pornography production, using photographs of children for sale.
It is estimated that there are 1,180 cases registered throughout the national territory for this crime. Out of these numbers, the authorities have been able to respond to 63%.
The Habla Foundation Against Child Sexual Abuse
The foundation argues that the increment in the sexual abuse against children and teenagers cases is related to the emigration situation. Parents leave the country and children are left, under someone else’s protection. Sometimes relatives, sometimes close friends to the family.
The Habla Foundation is an institution formed by professionals from different disciplines who met intending to address child sexual abuse, an enormously silenced topic.
In Venezuela the following crimes occur:
- Children and teenager trafficking
- Sex slavery
- Pedophile porn
Another phenomenon that is currently presented is the use of children as payment of sexual favors in exchange for goods and services.
The Habla Foundation affirms that the regions in which the sexual abuse cases are most concentrated are those with the highest population (Caracas, Zulia, and Miranda). The victims are mostly girls and the age range is defined between 6 and 11 years.
Venezuela also faces legal gaps regarding cybercrimes such as grooming, which is not exemplified within the legal system. On the opposite, in other countries, this crime does exist.
The Habla Foundation emphasizes that children do not lie when they disclose sexual abuse. The child cannot keep it up with a story of this kind, being coherent, if he has not lived it. Moreover, the fact that he can keep the same narrative a week reaffirms that the child tells the truth.
While it is true that, probably, the child cannot discern whether it is good or bad, the kid can determine that something is happening. For this reason, it is important to encourage him or her to communicate everything that happens to him.
