Member of:
Sexual violence against children is an unacceptable reality and despite all measures taken to protect children and adolescents, pedophiles and sexual predators, for a number of reasons, cultural, legal and social, continue to cause significant damage to the lives and well-being of children in Albania and across the World.
According to the BECAN study, in Albania 1 in 10 children is a victim of sexual violence. While the law enforcement and justice bodies deal with the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators of these crimes, children who have survived sexual violence often do not receive the services they deserve.
In 2019, CRCA/ECPAT Albania established the National Center for the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Sexual Violence – known as Barnahus Albania – a new model of prevention and care of children who have survived sexual violence online and offline.
We are working with some of the most trusted partners in Europe and America, to model the Center as a place of providing psycho-social services and legal aid for children and young people, victims of sexual violence, based on the model of Barnahus- one of the most successful models recommended by the Lanzarote Committee of the Council of Europe. Barnahus provides services for children in conflict with the law.
BARNAHUS ALBANIA
it is the first service in Albania that brings community services, child protection, health, together with law enforcement and justice in one place.
Barnahus Albania has at its center the provision of free psychological and legal services for child victims of sexual violence, the modeling of social and legal protection services, the establishment of a national alliance against violence in Albania, the support of legal initiatives for the protection of victims from sexual violence crimes and strengthening the capacities of law-enforcement bodies and those of child protection services, for the protection, rehabilitation and prevention of sexual violence. A separate component is dedicated to online safety against children and sexual crimes against them on the Internet.
Because of how the child protection and justice system is built, bringing in a single environment all the services needed for the protection, rehabilitation and reintegration of children and adolescents requires legal solutions, so Barnahus Albania is the first serious effort that CRCA/ECPAT Albania has undertaken to build the model that will then be implemented at the national level.
OUR SERVICES
Barnahus services are provided in coordination with the Free Legal Aid Office for Vulnerable Children and Youth (FLA), Albanian National Child Helpline 116-111, the National Internet Safety Hotline www.ISIGURT.AL, child protection services, the National Police and the Justice system.