General information

The clients were a mono-parental family of 4 from Afghanistan: mother, teenage daughter, and two sons aged 7 and 11. They were returned on Dublin regulation from a Western European country to an Eastern European one after spending 2 years reunited with their father who had refugee status there. The mother spoke only Dari, and the girl spoke Dari and English. The family was living in an open accommodation center for refugees and asylum seekers - all 4 of them in one single room.

Context on the GBV-related incident

The mother reported to the NGO staff working in the accommodation center that her 11-year-old son has been sexually abused by one of the single men residing in the center. When asked to provide more details, she reported that her 11 year old son was lured by a male asylum seeker from Afghanistan into his room who sexually abused him (forced him to do sexual acts unfit for a minor for sexual gratification of the perpetrator) and offered him money in order to keep silent. The child kept the incident a secret for one day, but his mother got suspicious when she asked him who gave him the money and he began shaking, refusing to talk. She claimed she reported the incident to the center’s administration and asked to speak with the police, but they refused to call the police. In the meantime, the alleged perpetrator managed to flee the center.

Institutional intervention

  • The accommodation center’s administration canceled the alleged perpetrator’s residence contract in the center and informed all personnel to be alert and deny him access back into the center.
  • The medical and psychological personnel of the center referred the case to the NGOs. The mother claims that she nor her son and other family members did not receive any specialized support from the personnel of the center.
  • NGO personnel (a social worker and a psychologist) accompanied the mother to the nearest police station to make a formal complaint about the assault. They also contacted a specialized Dari interpreter to help the mother communicate with the police officer.
  • At the station, the policemen initially refused to register her complaint, asking her, despite legal procedures, to come with a medical-legal certificate, but the NGO workers intervened and she was assigned a police officer to register her complaint. At the station, the mother had to retell for the second time the story of the abuse.
  • The mother returned to the accommodation center with the responsible officer for her case and a photographer who took pictures of the room where the abuse took place.
  • The following days, the mother together with the interpreter and her 11-year-old son went to the Institute of Forensic Medicine where the boy was asked to describe in great detail what happened to him. The interpreter claimed it was a very traumatic experience having to translate the information provided by the boy.

NGO support

  • After the whole experience, the mother reported nightmares and sought psychiatric assistance from specialized NGOs.
  • The family requested to move out of the center, as they were always living in a state of constant terror and keeping their door locked. A specialized NGO found them a flat in the city.
  • The whole family started free psychotherapy sessions provided by an NGO.

Questions for care professionals

  1. Can you identify the type of GBV present in this case?
    Gender violence includes, but is not limited to, the following facts:
  • Domestic violence,
  • Sexual violence or sexual abuse,
  • Physical abuse,
  • Emotional, psychological and economical abuse,
  • Genital mutilation of women,
  • Forced marriage,
  • Forced abortion and forced sterilization,
  • Sexual harassment,
  • Trafficking in human beings etc.
  1. Was there a GBV referral system in place for this particular case?
  2. Were the authorities (from police, administration of the center, social services) equipped to offer specialized GBV services?
  3. Were the following working principles in situations of violence against a child followed and implemented in this case?
    • a.) respecting the best interests of the child in all actions and decisions regarding him/her;
    • b.) avoiding and combating interventions that revictimize the child;
    • c.) the participation of the child and the parent or, as the case may be, the caregiver/guardian, in the process of solving the situation of violence;
    • d.) work in a multidisciplinary team, in an inter-institutional network and in partnership with the family;
    • e.) ensuring a unitary and specialized intervention for the child and members of the family;
    • f.) ensuring and facilitating access to support and specialized services for all children in the family (victims, witnesses, victims' brothers);
    • g.) ensuring stability and continuity in the care, growth and education of the child; supporting the adult victim in keeping the home until the legal procedures are completed;
    • h.) respect for confidentiality and professional deontological norms, without prejudice to the activity of reporting the situations of violence or the activity of investigating cases.

Points to consider from Romanian legislation (Legea nr. 272/2004) regarding violence against children:

  • Sexual abuse is the involvement of a minor in sexual activities that they are not able to understand, which are inappropriate for their age or for their psychosexual development, sexual activities constrained by violence or seduction or transgressing social taboos related to family roles; these activities usually include physical contact, with or without sexual penetration. In this category I can enter:
  • sexual harassment, exposure of the child to insults or language with sexual connotation, as well as touching the child in erogenous areas by hand or by kiss, regardless of the age of the child;
  • situations that lead to meeting the sexual needs of an adult or another child who is in a position of responsibility, power or trust relationship with the child victim;
  • attracting or forcing the child to obscene actions;
  • the child's exposure to obscene materials or the supply of such materials to him;
  • early marriage or engagement of children involving sexual relations;
  • genital mutilation.
  • Knowing the risk and protection factors is particularly important for care professionals who interact with the child, in order to assess the risk of exposure to a situation of abuse, neglect and exploitation. Therefore, it is preferable to use some risk assessment tools. The obligation to report the situations of violence against the child will be included in the job descriptions of all the professionals who interact with the child. Indications regarding the existence of a situation of violence against the child are often identified first and foremost by professionals in the educational, health or social assistance system.
  • It is particularly important to have tools available to care professionals to enable them to properly identify possible cases of violence against the child, as well as opportunities to promptly consult other experts / specialists (psychologists, doctors, lawyers) if they suspect that a child is a victim. Collaboration between different professionals is also essential for gathering the information needed to evaluate situations of violence against the child.
  • Regardless of the care professionals’ abilities or position within the institution, he is obliged to report to the DGASPC and the checks will be carried out later to determine whether or not there is violence against the child. In other words, both the suspicion and the case are reported. Any presumption of danger to the child must trigger a signaling process to the authorized authorities, even if it is not confirmed. Any institution whose employees, in the course of carrying out the tasks of the service, have direct contact with children must provide, at the level of the internal order regulation, in addition to the procedures for alerting the authorized authorities, the procedure for internal reporting of cases of violence against the child, including disciplinary investigation procedures.
  • There are a number of signs and symptoms that can be observed by any trained professional that raises an alarm signal, especially when they cannot be sufficiently explained or justified by the parents, caregiver or legal representative:
  • Behavioral disorders (apathy, irritability, impulsivity, aggression, lying, running away, theft, alcohol, drug use, etc.)
  • Sleep disorders (insomnia, drowsiness, restless sleep, nightmares, etc.)
  • Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia)
  • Self-stigmatization, self-blame
  • Ticks    (blinking, red nail, etc.)
  • Enuresis
  • Neglect in carrying out the tasks and inability to comply with an imposed schedule
  • Difficulties in networking and communication
  • Decreased school performance, absenteeism and school dropout
  • Depressive mood, sometimes with suicide attempts
  • Persistence of obsessive olfactory or skin sensations
  • Rapid modification of the affective disposition
  • Evocative signs specific to physical abuse: physical signs (bruises, injuries, burns, bleeding, fractures, etc.)
  • Evocative signs specific to sexual abuse: Signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases; Sexual behavior inappropriate for age, etc.; Traumatic lesions of the genital organs; Presence of pregnancy in a teenager (who does not declare a father); Uncontrollable fear of men (in the case of girls).
  • Evocative signs specific to serious neglect: Skin condition (dirt, excoriations, dermis); Nutrition, weight loss, food deficiencies; Inorganic staturo-weight hypertrophy; Lack of language development, age-specific skills.

About the authors 

Elena Pătrățeanu is a coordinating social counsellor at the ICAR Foundation, an organization that provides medical, social, psychological and integration services to asylum seekers and refugees in Romania. Elena has a bachelor's degree in communication, a master's degree in Islamic studies and more than 6 years of experience working with vulnerable groups, such as survivors of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and sexual and gender-based violence. She is also a trainer, certified by the Romanian National Qualifications Authority and has been involved in providing training to public authorities and NGOs on topics such as working methods with refugees, identifying refugee vulnerabilities, social rights of asylum seekers, social assistance models in working with migrants, etc. In 2016, Elena was selected as a Professional Fellow for the US State Department Professional Fellows On-Demand Program for NGO leaders working with refugee communities in Europe. Within the ICAR Foundation, she has worked with asylum seekers, refugees, third-country nationals and undocumented migrants, gaining valuable experience working for and with migrants, implementing social counselling and assistance models that involve clients directly, and by focusing on their active participation and feedback to promote customer integration and well-being.

Anca Bucur is a trainer, psychologist and psychotherapist. She has worked for more than a decade at the ICAR Foundation in the field of rehabilitation of victims of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment. She has completed courses and trainings in Romania and abroad, specializing in the field of trauma psychotherapy. Anca is a trainer accredited by the National Authority for Qualifications, and in this capacity, is experienced in supporting specialization and adult training courses, as well as in their didactic design. She has been involved in numerous European course development projects dedicated to specialists who work in the field of migration and who deal with severely traumatized people. She also gained a wealth of experience working as a school psychologist, and is well versed in the psychological characteristics, interests, and concerns of children and young people. She is familiar with interactive learning methods, methods of activating and motivating working groups appropriate to the proposed purpose.

This case discussion study has been published within the regional project 'Building Relationships through Innovative Development of Gender-Based Violence Awareness in Europe - BRIDGE'.

The BRIDGE project is implemented under the lead of the Terre des hommes Regional Office for Europe together with partners from Belgium (Defense for Children International DCI-Belgium and FEDASIL), Greece (ARSIS), Malta (Kopin) and Romania (Tdh Romania), and has the general objective to strengthen the statutory response to GBV affecting children and young people on the move in EU countries.

 

 

 

 

The BRIDGE project is supported by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014–2020).

The content of this case discussion study represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

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