Submitted by crinadmin on
New family legislation, just approved by congress in Chile, now compels all citizens who are aware of acts of violence or sexual abuse towards children to report them to the nearest police station. The old legislation only allowed certain state institutions to report those situations to the police. According to UNICEF, 75 per cent of all children in Chile are subject to violence. Chilean police declared that during the past year, 30 per cent of all emergency calls were due to situations of family violence. However, engrained social beliefs and cultural attitudes are set to make the legislative change difficult. The legislation itself is not well understood. People may not report an abuse as they are afraid of vengeance, or of “poking their noses” into the lives of their neighbours. As a result, World Vision Chile has conducted in-depth training for all its members. Seventeen members from the technical teams, 40 representatives of community organisations and 23 youth leaders, all underwent intensive training on how to educate people on domestic violence. The UN convention on the Rights of the Child, Chilean legislation, risk factors and prevention were included in the studies. The groups that have been trained will have two main tasks: to inform the communities and, later on, based on their experience, help build a “Family Violence Prevention Plan” to be applied in all households where World Vision Chile works. Further information