Addressing Domestic Violence Against Children: Reforming Laws and Supporting Victims

2023-10-21 05:00:00

Domestic violence once morest children can take very different forms. Psychological violence, such as humiliation, harsh violence, such as repeated blows causing fractures and multiple traumas, sexual violence or even violence that we call “ordinary”, such as regular spankings or slaps.

In Belgium, the legislative arsenal is quite substantial, but might still do better. “There was a reform of the Penal Code where incest was recognized, for examplespecifies Solayman Laqdim, the general delegate for children’s rights, so symbolically it is interesting to say that incest has been recognized. There has even been a worsening in the treatment of the perpetrators because there are no alternative penalties that are possible.“

When we say and recognize a problem, we can act on it

But today, very little is planned to take care of and support the perpetrators of these various abuses. In addition, the delegate for children’s rights also advocates for the condemnation of so-called “ordinary” educational violence.

“The idea is not to send parents to prison if they slapped their child or shouted at their child. We just want to say that this is not something that should be normalinsists Solayman Laqdim. So what we are asking for is that we modify an article of the Civil Code relating to parental authority which allows us to say that it is not right to do so. When we say and recognize a problem, we can act on it. Several countries have done it before us and the results are quite conclusive, so let’s get on the right path.“

The child rights delegate and his team are speaking with children who are victims of domestic violence and are being cared for in residential services. They also intend to survey the institutions that take care of these children in order to return to the political world with proposals for realistic recommendations that take into account all the testimonies collected.

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