Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Attorney General of the Republic today expressed his “concern” with data from this year’s report which indicates that of the 635 cases filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office for sexual crimes, 50% are against children.
Justice: Data shows that of the 635 cases filed this year for sexual crimes, 50% are against children – attorney general
Luís José Landim provided this information to the press, on the sidelines of the opening of the international conference entitled “The Public Ministry and the Child Protection System in Cape Verde”, which takes place today and Thursday 26th, in the city of Praia.
“The data that we presented in this year’s report and which is published on our portal, says that there has been a reduction in the number of sexual crimes in general. And 635 cases were filed this year for sexual crimes and of these, the worrying thing is that of these 635, more than 50% are crimes against children”, he pointed out.
The Attorney General of the Republic highlighted that, although crimes have reduced overall, “it is always worrying” and children mainly need protection, highlighting that caring for children is not just about applying protection measures themselves.
“We will also be protecting the child when we know that a child is deviating from the law. Unfortunately, we have some cases of children who, at a very young age, begin to join the world of crime and so in this case also applying a socio-educational measure is important, the protection of the child itself”, he highlighted.
He recognized that in recent years the Public Ministry has given special attention and action to prosecutors and judges, with “more rigorous measures” regarding the issue of child protection, which culminated in the preventive detention of criminals.
“Therefore, it is something that worries us, it has always worried us, but now it worries us more and more. Then we know that Cape Verde is a very open country, very open to the diaspora, to tourism and this has negative consequences. It’s always good to have a good diaspora that supports Cape Verde, to have good tourism, but we also have to be careful,” she warned.
José Luís Landim recalled, in this sense, that the protection of children is not only an obligation of public and private entities, but also of families and civil society, which play an “important role” in this matter.
“We have prosecutors in all districts, health stations, legal construction and everyone is committed to this fight and I believe that we will have increasingly tangible and, therefore, expressive results”, he reinforced, highlighting that anonymous complaints have allowed the Public Ministry to act .
He considered, on the other hand, that Cape Verde has a “good legal framework”, which makes it possible to provide comprehensive coverage to children, stressing, however, that action has sometimes been limited due to constraints in human resources.
“We need to have more senior technicians, more psychologists, and therefore more prosecutors to be available. For example, here in Praia, where the problem is greater equity, we have a single prosecutor taking care of these processes, but this year we have registered more than 14 prosecutors and we will increasingly reinforce this section GBV crimes and crimes against children”, he concluded.
The international conference on “The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Child Protection System in Cape Verde” is promoted by the Attorney General’s Office in partnership with the joint Unicef office in Cape Verde.
Aimed at public prosecutors, the conference also includes in-person and remote participation by judicial magistrates, ICCA technicians, health delegates, staff from the National Police and the Judiciary Police, as well as other national institutions with responsibilities within the scope of the themes. addressed.
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