CoE “One in Five” campaign in Montenegro: Lecture on child abuse in tourist centres

Budva, Montenegro (17 May 2012) – As part of the Council of Europe (CoE) “One in Five” campaign for Montenegro, a lecture on child abuse in tourist centres was given in Hotel “Maestral” in Budva which gathered representatives of local schools, the police, tourist organisations, as well as state officials and employees.

The keynote speaker at the event was a renowned expert in the area from Croatia, Mrs Gordana Flander, a psychologist and psychotherapist, professor at the University of Zagreb and director of the Policlinic for the protection of the children of Zagreb.

The event was opened by the Head of Montenegro’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE and National Coordinator for “One in Five” campaign in Montenegro, Mrs Valentina Radulović-Šćepanović, who presented the Montenegrin campaign, whose goal is to prevent sexual abuse of children. She presented the previous activities of the National Team and thanked all the campaign partners and supporters for their great commitment to this important issue.

Introductory notes were held by Tourism and Sustainable Development Mr Minister Predrag Sekulić and the Police Authority Director Mr Božidar Vuksanović, who pointed out that “only by professional involvement and enhanced cooperation of all competent institutions may we improve and upgrade the prevention system and efficient persecution in cases of child abuse and victim assistance.” Head of Office for Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings Mr Zoran Ulama underscored the contemporary challenges such as globalisation and economic crisis that have an additional negative impact on the phenomenon of child abuse, and pointed out that Montenegro is an emerging tourist destination, which obliges the stakeholders from public and private sectors to cooperate in order to decrease the negative effects tourist growth may have in this area.

Professor Gordana Flander gave an hour-long lecture in which she presented a Croatian research on child abuse and underlined the cultural barriers in facing the problem of child abuse as the greatest challenge for all stakeholders involved in solving this problem.

Her lecture entitled “Sexual Abuse of Children: What have We Learned” focused on presenting Croatian experiences and best practices and raising awareness of the problem among the representatives of the police, tourist organisations and school workers in recognising and taking action in cases of sexual abuse of children.

The event was open to the media who showed a great interest and readiness to assist the promotion of the “One in Five” campaign goals.