19 months of training and supervision with Prof. Irit Hershkowitz, author of the NICHD-R protocol for interviewing child victims
PRESS RELEASE
Bucharest, 27 June 2024
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.
The model implemented by the Bucharest Public Prosecutor's Office with the support of the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes and UNICEF Romania is based on a unique training program to which only investigators from Israel, Canada, the United States, England and Australia have access. As part of the project, six Romanian prosecutors attended more than 600 hours of training over 19 months. This has created an international-level performance model in the investigation of crimes against child victims of sexual violence.
"All these efforts and measures to organize the investigative work have increased the trust of the community and led to an increase in the number of filings", said prosecutor Marian Trușcă, around whom a team specialized in investigating sexual violence against children at the Bucharest Prosecutor's Office has been built up.
"The essential element in the investigation of a possible case of sexual abuse is the child's statement obtained without influencing or suggesting the answers, through the correct and professional use of the NICHD-Revised protocol", explained Alexandra Tomescu, a specialized prosecutor, at the last meeting of the group coordinated by Israeli researcher Irit Hershkowitz, one of the original developers of the NICHD protocol and the 2018 revised version and the one who provided the basic training in October 2022 and, later, the supervision coordination.
"The knowledge now exists in Romania, and so does the necessary infrastructure - over a hundred courtrooms in prosecutor's offices, police headquarters and DGASPCs across the country - which can be easily connected to this resource. It has only completed a first stage of preparation for investigations tailored to the needs of child victims of sexual violence", said Mihaela Chiper, president of the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes.
"Together with our institutional and civil society partners, UNICEF Romania is continuously working to ensure children's right to protection and child-friendly justice. I am glad that, after a long and dedicated work, the results are starting to show and that we already have a model that could be successfully replicated at the national level," said Jean-Benoit Manhes, UNICEF Acting Representative in Romania.
In 2022 and 2023, around 5,500 cases of child trafficking (292), rape (2.547) and sexual intercourse with minors (2.633) were classified in Romania due to lack of evidence.
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