The Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes (VIS), in partnership with the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), with the support of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and the expertise of the Institute for Trauma Study and Treatment (ISTT), announces the launch of MindShield Project.

An important step in protecting children who have experienced trauma: work begins on Romania’s first pediatric forensic medicine office. The initiative is led by the Association for Victims of Sexual Offenses (VIS), in partnership with the Notar 2006 Foundation of the Bucharest Chamber of Public Notaries and with the support of the “Mina Minovici” National Institute of Forensic Medicine (INML) in Bucharest.

Romania joins international efforts to support victims of sexual crimes on the occasion of the International Day for the Prevention and Cure of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation by launching the platform www.asistentavictime.ro, developed by the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes, with the support of UNICEF in Romania.

A working model in the investigation of crimes against child victims of sexual violence, based on the techniques contained in the NICHD-Revised protocol for interviewing child victims and witnesses of crimes, has led to a tripling of the number of cases sent to trial in the last year alone at the Bucharest Prosecutor's Office.

Here they are! The places and people they meet, on average, in a month, at least 10 children about whom a suspicion of sexual violence has been registered. It is the forensic services and institutes from which the police and prosecutors request evidence. The information did not reach all counties that in over 90% of sexual violence against children, the evidence is not found on the victim's body.

Professionals from the United States who specialise in the clinical examination of child victims of sexual violence will exchange experiences with Romanian doctors and forensic nurses in a marathon of April, celebrated overseas as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The first training facility for investigators specializing in the investigation of sexual crimes against children was inaugurated in the headquarters of the Prosecutor's Office next to the Bucharest Court for the purpose of continuous training in the field of forensic interviewing based on the protocol of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), revised in 2018 by a team of international researchers.

The partnership between the Association for Victims of Sexual Offences and UNICEF Romania aims to improve judicial procedures in cases of sexual violence against children, but also to create a network of professionals from the judiciary, forensic medicine and DGASPCs, focused on obtaining solid evidence in cases of sexual violence against children.