News
April | Child Abuse Prevention Month
April | Child Abuse Prevention Month
“I will be what you give me, let it be love” is the slogan of this campaign
Each year, the CPCJ-Commissions for the Protection of Children and Youth-receive more than 40,000 hazard communications and work on average, in about 70,000 cases. These are worrying figures that challenge everyone!
To mark the Month of Prevention of Child Abuse, the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Youth (CNPDPCJ), the body that coordinates the 311 CPCJ in the country, annually promotes an awareness campaign, with a view to preventing abuse, practices very harmful to children, which can leave deep marks on their development. They occur in different contexts and are transversal to all strata of the population, taking many forms: neglect, abandonment, physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse.
“I will be what you give me, let it be love”, is the slogan of this campaign, which aims to draw the community’s attention to the need for all of us to prevent and combat the ill-treatment to which many children are subjected.
To give the starting point for this month, the National Commission, the CPCJ and the Chamber of Serpa, hold, on the 3rd, a session on the theme, at the Teatro Musíbéria.
On April 28, it will hold a Human Blue Lace (symbol of this Month) in Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon, involving more than a thousand children.
The origin of the campaign
In 1989, an American woman (Bonnie Finney) tied a blue ribbon to the car's antenna in honor of her grandson, a victim of ill-treatment. With this gesture, I wanted to “make people question themselves”. The impact of this initiative was such that April became the International Month for the Prevention of Child Abuse. "Blue works for me as a constant wake-up call to fight for the protection of children," said Bonnie W. Finney. And why blue? Because, despite being a beautiful color, Bonnie Finney didn't want to forget the bruised bodies of her grandchildren. Blue, which symbolizes the color of injuries, has therefore become a constant image in its struggle to protect children from ill-treatment.
The story Finney told his community members was tragic: His grandson had died brutally from being beaten by his mother and boyfriend.
This campaign, which began as a tribute by this grandmother to her grandchildren, has expanded and, today, many countries use blue ties in memory of those who have died or are victims of physical and psychological abuse. It is also a way to support families and strengthen communities in the efforts needed to prevent child abuse and neglect.
Source: CNPDPCJ