As every term, the Municipal Truancy Commission met on Friday 8th. As well as taking stock of the situation in each school, a talk was given to raise awareness of the Evaluation and Treatment Programme for Minors Victims of Sexual Violence of the junta de Andalucía.

In this sense, sexual violence in minors is a problem that the social worker and coordinator of the Evaluation and Treatment Programme for Minors Victims of Sexual Violence of the Prevention and Family Support Service of the Junta, Aurora Barrientos, described as serious according to the studies. As she pointed out, one in five children can be a victim of sexual violence of any kind and in any way.  "In the province of Malaga, our team deals with around 200 cases a year and, at the same time, in the judicial sphere, there is a very high number of reports of this type of crime", Barrientos said.

The programme for the Evaluation and Treatment of Minors Victims of Sexual Violence covers minors between the ages of 3 and 18. "The largest number of cases we currently receive are from minors between 12 and 15 years of age", said the coordinator. 

 

The main cases of sexual violence tend to occur in the immediate environment. "In the closest circles of the child, the family, extended family, acquaintances, friends, is where we are going to find, in 80% of the cases, the aggressors of minors", Barrientos stressed. Also through new technologies, she stressed: "Having a tool such as a mobile phone without sufficient parental control is a very common way to be extorted and to lead minors to suffer many types of sexual violence".

Barrientos also stated that it is difficult to detect sexual aggression, which is why she stressed that the role of families and educational centres as observers is essential. "Detecting this type of violence is very difficult because it is carried out in a very secret environment and the perpetrators, the aggressors, they silence the victims. That is why, after families, the second place where they spend most of their time is in schools, high schools, and obviously it is the platform, the best observatory", she explained.

The Mijas Town hall highlighted the importance of this type of talks. "We are very grateful to Aurora Barrientos who has come to give us a talk today to inform the counsellors, psychologists and school principals about this problem, they are the ones that have to be informed in order to be able to attend to these children", acknowledged the councillor for Social Inclusion and Education, Melisa Ceballos.

As for figures related to truancy, Ceballos reported that "in this first quarter, a total of 17 cases are open".

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