UNICEF Romania supports advanced knowledge in the field of interviewing child witnesses or victims

"I want to congratulate you. Indeed, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations and more.... what can I say? I am simply extremely happy that we had the opportunity to be here together and, frankly, I had a lot to learn from you (...). It is absolutely different from what I had learnt, from what I knew".

"I became a cop because I wanted to save and I wanted to help. No one teaches you exactly how to save and how to help. We learn procedure, we learn offences, we learn what to point out when we make a case so that it has a success rate in court. In terms of hearing people who come to us to tell us what happened to them, we don't have an exact point-by-point guide on what to do or what to follow."

"I knew beforehand a little bit about what the course was about, but I realised that I didn't know at all, in fact I just had an idea and I want to say that I am deeply marked. I learnt a lot of things, I realised how many mistakes I made, how I misunderstood certain things and concepts and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done and for everything you are doing".

We keep our long-term vision. Last week was spent in the training room of DIICOT's central structure, where the seventh training seminar on forensic interviewing took place, attended by 12 prosecutors and police officers from organised crime. Investigators working on cases of human trafficking, child pornography and drug trafficking were trained in the basic use of the NICHD-Revised protocol.

The feedback received from participants on the knowledge gained encourages us to move forward. This is just the first step in creating a network of professionals truly specialised in investigating cases involving children. An in-depth training for the most effective NICHD interviewers, trained over the past year by prosecutors Marian Trușcă and Alexandra Tomescu under the UNICEF Romania-funded project, is planned for the second part of January 2024, to improve the capacity to assess the quality of victims' testimonies.

The partnership between the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes and UNICEF Romania aims to improve judicial procedures in cases of sexual violence with child victims, as well as 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.

"I have been working this year with Mihaela Chiper from the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes to really strengthen the approach that the Romanian justice system takes in investigating and handling cases of sexual violence against children. It has been inspiring to see the commitment of the prosecutors and police officers we have trained in the project to immediately implement what they have learnt in the training sessions. I am confident that you agree with me that the process of specialising the justice system to be more child-friendly must be an ongoing one and I believe that through the partnership we have with the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes, but also with the support of the trained prosecutors and police officers, we can really continue this work to ensure that all children are protected even when they are being interviewed and investigated", says Laura Fragiacomo, Child Protection Emergency Coordinator UNICEF Romania.

Through the project "Justice for child victims of sexual abuse. Setting national standards in the scientific investigation of child sexual abuse. Training of trainers and strengthening the national network of professionals", at least 150 professionals (prosecutors, psychologists, forensic scientists) from the 21 targeted counties will learn to work together to avoid secondary victimisation of children who have experienced sexual violence.

If you want to talk about sexual violence with a professional ready to help, send an email to: help@asistentavictime.ro