1) Talk briefly about your training and the main aspects of your professional career until you arrived at the National Secretariat for the Promotion of the Rights of Children and Adolescents.
I am a teacher, I worked for more than 20 years in the public network, I graduated in Social Service from the Universidade Federal Fluminense and as a Social Worker I had the opportunity to work in the areas of health, education, justice and assistance in both the public and private networks – always in the field of childhood and adolescence. To qualify this practice, I specialized in special rights for children and adolescents at UERJ, in intrafamily violence at USP, and in social responsibility and the third sector at UFRJ and, finally, I completed a master's degree in cultural goods and social projects at CPDOC at FGV. – RJ. I implemented the initial project and directed the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation for the last 20 years, serving as the social responsibility director of the Xuxa Group since 2002. Along this path, I participated in the social movement in the area of childhood and over the last ten years I have been part of networks for the protection and promotion of children's rights, including Rede Não Bata Eduque – of which I shared the executive secretary with Promundo. In 2012 I received an invitation from Minister Maria do Rosário – who I met in parliament when she was still a Federal Deputy working on political advocacy – to occupy the National Secretariat for the Promotion of the Rights of Children and Adolescents.
2) What is the situation of sexual exploitation in Brazil? Tell us about the situation in Brazil?
Facing sexual violence in Brazil has as its dividing lines the Federal Constitution (1988), the Statute of Children and Adolescents (1990) and, especially, the National Plan for Combating Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents (2000), which clearly demarcated that Brazilian society could no longer continue to live with sexual violence against children and adolescents.
Legislation has challenged the Brazilian state, based on the construction of public policies: health, education, social assistance, tourism and work to combat sexual violence and guarantee the protection of the rights of children and adolescents.
Understanding that confronting sexual violence is a responsibility of the entire Brazilian society and is, fundamentally, a violation of human rights, the Human Rights Secretariat, Ministries, International Organizations and Organized Civil Society have been developing permanent educational campaigns to encourage reporting, especially with the consolidation of Dial 100. And the numbers show that we have been successful in these awareness campaigns.
In relation to sexual exploitation, which is a type of sexual violence, the Brazilian government, also in partnership with research institutions, international organizations and civil society organizations, has been making an effort to map the most vulnerable and critical points, to have a profile of children and adolescents involved in this type of violence, to understand and (de)construct the factors responsible for its occurrence and, especially, ensure that sexual exploitation does not continue to occur.
The latest survey by the Federal Highway Police (PRF), carried out in 2011, found more than 1800 vulnerable and critical points for the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents on federal highways. The Intersectoral Matrix for Combating Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents, carried out in partnership with the University of Brasília, mapped the Brazilian cities with occurrences of sexual exploitation, as well as the programs, services and actions to assist victims that already exist. We have to continue improving research and studies on the issue, as well as expanding educational campaigns that involve the whole of society, as the first step in tackling the issue: reporting.Brazil has made significant progress in combating sexual exploitation, but we must continue to make rapid progress in consolidating our legislation, structuring public policies that guarantee rights and overcoming this phenomenon with social, cultural and historical dimensions.
3) Promundo is articulating a campaign aimed at the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents due to mega sporting events focused on football fans. -What can we do to prevent SSc in the context of the World Cup? What are the main challenges and opportunities for prevention during the World Cup?
Continue scheduling the topic and, especially, informing about the rights of children and adolescents; disclose what Brazilian legislation indicates in these cases; inform about local and national reporting channels; contribute to the establishment of communication channels directly with children and adolescents; and, especially, integrate the Permanent Campaign for the Comprehensive Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, and the protection Committees that are being created in the cities that will host these events.
Regarding the main challenges, we understand that, perhaps, the biggest challenge is to coordinate actions to prevent and combat sexual exploitation, both governmental (Union, States and Municipalities), the justice system, and rights and guardianship councils and civil society. organization, international organizations and the corporate sector in the context of mega events. This great and necessary effort is being led by SDH, in partnership with the construction of a Convergence Agenda aiming to protect and guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the context of mega events.
Regarding opportunities, the mega sporting events that will be held in Brazil in the coming years (Confederations Cup, World Cup, Olympics and Paralympics) could contribute to strengthening the Rights Guarantee System, to signal to the world the advances that we have achieved in the protection of children and adolescents, to effectively integrate actions to combat sexual violence, and all other violations and, mainly, to mobilize Brazilian society in this great challenge of guaranteeing rights and protecting children and adolescents from any and all violations of their human rights.
4) What can football fans do to prevent ES against children and adolescents?
Firstly, be deeply bothered by ES. Understanding that it is a violation of the rights of children and adolescents, and thus forwarding complaints to the competent authorities (Guardianship Council, Military Police, Public Prosecutor's Office), or to local and national reporting hotlines (Dial 100).Actively participate in campaigns, events and social mobilizations to combat sexual violence against children and adolescents.In other words, I’m going to use our campaign slogan: “Don’t look away! - Watch! Stay tuned! Report it! Dial 100 or contact the Guardianship Council.”
5) In the unprecedented survey carried out by Promundo that will be launched on May 18th, one of the results shows that 18% of the 662 interviewees revealed that they had had relationships with children under 18 years of age. Many of these men reported having an emotional relationship with the young woman. How to address this type of sexual exploitation in public policies?
Public policies, especially those related to prevention and care, must seek to empower children and adolescents so that they have tools to defend themselves in these situations. Making it clear that the fact that there is an “affective relationship”, which is extremely questionable, does not fail to characterize a sexual crime provided for in our legislation. We have to discuss the possibility of a child or adolescent giving consent to these relationships. Adults are responsible for guaranteeing the rights of children and adolescents and keeping them safe from any and all violence, including sexual violence. The limit for affective and sexual relationships must be set by adults and not by children and adolescents.
6) What is the most important violation of the rights of children and adolescents that the Secretariat has faced or should face?
SDH understands that there is no violation of the rights of children and adolescents that overlaps another. All are equally violations of the human rights of children and adolescents. Be it: sexual violence, child labor, the failure to guarantee the right to family and community life, the conditions under which socio-educational measures are being implemented for adolescents in conflict with the law, the extermination of children and adolescents. They all need to be faced and overcome equally.
7) What actions are planned for May 18th, National Day to Combat Abuse and Sexual Exploitation against Children and Adolescents?
May 18th actions are fully decentralized. Possibly, more than 3,000 Brazilian municipalities carry out activities related to May 18th. Activities normally consist of seminars, debate cycles, walks, marches, cultural activities involving children and adolescents, public hearings, blitzes on federal and state highways, educational campaigns in various media, etc.
The SDH, together with the National Committee to Combat Sexual Violence, the Intersectoral Commission to Combat Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents, which brings together ministries, secretariats, international organizations, the Parliamentary Front for children and adolescents and the Caravan Siga Bem Caminhoneiro, they are organizing, for May 15th, a Public Hearing at the National Congress, the awarding of the 3rd Edition of the Neide Castanha Prize and a Cultural Demonstration at the Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasília – DF. It will be a political and cultural event to mobilize everyone to combat sexual violence against children and adolescents.
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