Press conference

Institutions and schools should create mechanisms for prevention, reporting and proper and timely treatment of violence against children

Our organization, Syri i Vizioni, is extremely concerned about the recent cases of sexual harassment against minor girls. These cases prove the lack of appropriate, friendly and reliable mechanisms in institutions, and especially in schools, so that children/students feel safe to report in time cases of harassment and violence where they are victims or witnesses of these phenomena in school and outside it.

We believe that the non-reporting and the lack of staff within the school to work more in the prevention of violence means that the cases that occur are not treated and reported in time and in accordance with the required standards. As a result, this leads to an increase in bullying between peers, bullying that ends in physical, emotional, psychological and sexual violence, not forgetting the cases of violence and sexual harassment that have also occurred on the part of some teachers. Unfortunately, these cases are acted upon only when they become public in the media, either through videos or photographs, in which case the children/minors experience violence for the second time and their personality is destroyed by the media which does not rarely violate professional ethics when reporting on these cases. By not preserving the confidentiality of the victim and the abuser, these reports incite fear and concern for all the children and parents of those attending that educational institution, and the victim and the abuser, whether minor or adult, are easily identified.

The recent cases must be treated with urgency and seriousness by security and justice institutions as well as other institutions that offer psychological, health and rehabilitation services. The proper and timely malfunctioning of these institutions affects and leaves irreparable consequences for minors who have experienced violence and sexual harassment and their families. And, as was proven with the last case of murder in the city of Peja.

Central institutions should design and coordinate their protection policies for children by creating friendly and reliable mechanisms for reporting violence, whatever its nature. Schools should not “hide” cases of violence and minimize them, but take immediate action and seek the help of extracurricular institutions when they lack the capacity to handle these cases. They must report these cases to the responsible institutions, as required by the regulation “QRK-NR21/2013 for the protocol for the prevention and referral of violence in pre-university education institutions”.

The last two cases should be an alarm for all institutions that deal with child protection, service provision and education. In coordination with schools and other actors, the Parents’ Council, local and international organizations, they must draft practical policies for the prevention and reporting of all types of violence in school and outside it.

Our organization is ready to offer all its professional, human and logistical potential and practice and practical policies tested and created in several schools and municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo for ten years. Based on this experience, we recommend:

– The creation of friendly mechanisms in schools for reporting violence and other negative phenomena, such as the complaint box managed by a committee composed of teachers, parents and student representatives, school psychologists and pedagogues;
– Empowerment of the school management council through the drafting of the work plan, specifically in the prevention of violence and other incidents in the school;
– Initiating a social dialogue between the school (teachers, parents and students) with the Centers for Social Work and the Police;
– Schools should continuously provide training for teachers regarding the types of violence, how to identify, prevent and report such cases in time;
– Psychological services should be offered in schools, not only for students but also for teachers and parents, either through the employment of a psychologist or the creation of a group of psychologists to stay at the school on certain days;
– The Ministry of Education, together with the Directorate of Education and schools, offer advice to parents, how to work with children to prevent violence, use the Internet for educational purposes and strengthen cooperation between teachers, parents and students;
– The Ministry of Education, together with the Directorates of Education, should promote policies for the prevention and referral of violence and increase inspections in schools;
– To oblige schools to report cases of violence in the system for management of information in education (SMIA), in accordance with Regulation QRK-NR21/2013 on the protocol for the prevention and referral of violence in pre-university education institutions”;
– To take measures against the school management and teachers who try to hide cases of violence or pressure them to hide or not to report in order to preserve the image of the school;
– MESTI must create and supervise the implementation of policies within the school which are related to the protection of children and the respect of their rights in cooperation with the Education Inspectorate and the Directorates of Education;
– MESTI should promote policies that encourage schools to report and deal with cases of violence, giving you the epithet of “safe school”, not as it is assumed today that those schools which report and deal with such cases are not safe.

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