Council of Europe

14.03.2012 - Since the launch of the ONE in FIVE Campaign in Cyprus at the beginning of 2011, Ms Athina Kyriakidou, contact parliamentarian for Cyprus, continues to be actively involved in the Council of Europe ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children.

In December 2011, Ms Athina Kyriakidou visited a UNESCO school in Limassol (Cyprus) and delivered a speech to teenage children on the aims of the campaign.

On 9th January 2012, she attended the first meeting of the National Committee for the ONE in FIVE Campaign convened under the auspices of the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance. The Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to combat all forms of violence against children, in particular sexual violence and called for the participation of as many social actors as possible in the campaign. A fruitful discussion followed as to the ways in which to adequately train and sensitize both parents and teachers, as well as children. The Minister asked all actors present to send within a certain deadline, concrete and practical proposals on ways in which to implement the aims and objectives of the campaign, within the area of competence of each relevant actor.

In this context, the House of Representatives has decided to co-finance the translation and publication of the campaign material into the Greek language and will distribute this material to pupils visiting the House in coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture.

On 6th February 2012, the House Standing Committee on Human Rights convened another meeting on the progress of the promotion of the Lanzarote Convention for the protection of children from abuse and sexual exploitation. Parliamentarians, on their side, asked the media representatives to play a positive role in the promotion of the campaign and not to restrict themselves to reporting only cases of sexual abuse. Parents and teachers association asked that they be informed and trained at a formal level, in order to identify, report and handle cases of sexual abuse and exploitation. Through the discussions that ensued, it became apparent that there is still a long way to go in order to provide a safe and child-friendly environment to child victims of sexual violence