May 18 is marked as the “National Day for Combating the Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents.” In all of Brazil, various organizations that are active in the field of children’s and adolescents’ rights mobilize to sensitize, inform, and call upon all of society to participate in the defense of the rights of children and adolescents, because it is necessary to guarantee their right for development in a safe and protected way.

In 2018, in Brazil, more than three cases of sexual abuse per hour in children and adolescents were registered; that number is equivalent to more than 32 thousand cases during that year, the highest rate of notifications ever recorded by the Ministry of Health. Close to 90% of the violence is committed by people who have legal responsibility for watching over them or who live with them daily: brother, father, stepfather, uncle, grandfather, neighbor.

Campaigns such as Do Your Best – Forgetting is Allowing, Remembering is Combatting contributed to the reporting of the violation of rights to competent agencies and even tripled the number of complaints during the week of the May 18 Campaign.

18 de Maio – dia de combater o abuso e a exploração sexual infantojuvenil

Children and adolescents on the move are also susceptible to these and other forms of violence. The most vulnerable are especially those who travel alone, or who are separated from their families.

The general manager of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), Friar Luciano, points out that “situations of extreme poverty, conflicts, social and economic inequalities generate factors that cause sexual exploitation, trafficking in children, seduction of adolescent women for prostitution and forced labor to emerge in humanitarian crises.”

In Roraima, the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF), an implementing partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is the manager of a house of protection, the Welcome House, where women and the LGBTQI+ population, survivors of gender-based violence, are sent. Besides the specific work in the Welcome House, all the shelters managed by the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF) have protection teams: Officer and Case Manager, Night Focal Point, Community Participation Officer, and Health Focal Point. A multidisciplinary team that is there to assist and reference any situation in the violation of rights, taken place within or outside of the shelters.

“The participation of the missionaries is a very important point in the complementary response of the technical team, bringing encouragement and the space for dialogue and peacemaking,” adds Clara, missionary and regional director of the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF).

Anderson, missionary of the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF), explains that after the victims of violence receive more technical emergency care, such as the removal of the aggressor, complaint, and medical and psychological care, the intention is to re-integrate the victim into healthy collective dynamics, whether in the shelter, at school, or in the places previously frequented by the person, and then start the assistance with the techniques of Emergency Education.

“The work done with Emergency Education, especially with those focused on artistic expression and emotions, helped many children, mainly adolescent girls, to re-establish a connection with themselves. Work with water color, mandala painting, singing and dance, makes it possible for traumatic feelings and emotions to be redefined, translated, and re-seen in a way that brings about a sense of reorientation in the life of the people affected by this type of violence. The group work with people in the same age range, in a safe environment free of prejudice, was also crucial in the re-insertion, and overcoming limiting experiences,” explains Aderson.