Committee on the Rights of the Child
Sixty-eighth session
12–30 January 2015
Item 4 of the provisional agenda
Consideration of reports of States parties
List of issues in relation to the report submitted by Uruguay under article 12, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
Addendum
Replies of Uruguay to the list of issues *
[Date received: 14 November 2014]
1.These replies were compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of information provided by the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Health, the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents (INAU), the National Committee for the Elimination of Commercial and Non-Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents (CONAPEES), the legislature and the judiciary.
1. Please provide statistics (disaggregated by sex, age, ethnic group and rural or urban place of residence) on:
(a) The number of cases of the sale of children, child prostitution or child pornography and information on the action taken in those cases, particularly with regard to the trial and punishment of those involved;
2.A total of 78 cases of the sexual exploitation of children have been reported to date (76 girls and 2 boys).
(b) The number of cases of trafficking in children for purposes of sale, prostitution or pornography, as defined in article 3, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol;
3.An analysis of the situation in the country indicates that there have been a total of 23 cases, all of which involved girls (21 national and 2 international trafficking cases).
(c) The number of children who have received assistance for their physical and mental rehabilitation, social reintegration or payment of compensation for the damages suffered, in accordance with the provisions of article 9, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Optional Protocol.
4.Assistance is provided in all instances by local teams. There are specialist teams in the departments of Montevideo and Paysandú that are responsible for handling such cases in partnership with the local teams. In the capital cities of these two departments, assistance has been provided to 38 girls.
2. Please provide information on the functions and achievements of the National Committee for the Elimination of Commercial and Non-Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents (CONAPEES) regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol and on how the efforts of national and international public- and private-sector institutions working in the field of children ’ s issues are coordinated, as alluded to in paragraph 37 of the State party report.
5.CONAPEES is primarily responsible for plotting out and proposing a targeted public policy to address the issue of sexual exploitation of children and for formulating a national plan of action for the prevention and elimination of commercial and non-commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents covering a period of at least five years.
6.This committee is composed of members of INAU, who chair it, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, the Planning and Budget Office (OPP), three non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Social Development, the Primary Education Board, the Secondary Education Board, the Vocational Education Board, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN).
7.The Committee has continued to take various steps to strengthen inter-agency coordination. It has held regular meetings, offered a course designed by IIN, conducted the annual “Construyendo puentes” (“building bridges”) event to share experiences at the international level, conducted a qualitative study of businesses having a high social and economic impact in the western area of Montevideo, carried out awareness-raising and training activities in various cities around the country and conducted workshops in conjunction with the National Sex Education Plan of the National Public Education Administration (ANEP) and with health-care providers under the aegis of the Ministry of Health.
3. Please provide detailed information on the content and results of the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Elimination of Commercial and Non-Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. Please also inform the Committee whether there is a general and comprehensive strategy to end the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
8.The National Plan of Action is comprised of various subprogrammes focusing on prevention, training, coordination, protection, support, investigation, and child and adolescent participation. Numerous activities are conducted each year under these subprogrammes. These activities have included:
Ongoing, active participation throughout 2013 in the organization and coordination of the PAIR-Mercosur Regional Strategy for the Eradication of Sexual Exploitation in Border Cities of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay;
Additional and improved training activities in the capital and throughout the country as well as abroad: (a) Training sessions have been held with foreign experts, and more than 1,000 officials throughout the country have received training in classroom settings in recent years; (b) The IIN course for the Americas and the Caribbean, in which 30 technical experts took part, was run again in 2013 in coordination with various institutions, local authorities and ministries; these workshops were attended by around 200 technical experts and social workers from all the departments of the country; (c) Three training courses (two for adults and one for adolescents) were held in western Montevideo (40 and 15 participants, respectively); (d) Ten teachers and technical experts from the regional directorates and support programme took part in a training seminar on sexual exploitation and human trafficking held in Cordoba, Argentina; (e) Activities and workshops for technicians, officials, and members of various institutions and the general public aimed at raising awareness and providing training on commercial sexual exploitation of children and young persons have been organized by CONAPEES; some of these activities have an international focus, such as the “Construyendo puentes” (“building bridges”) programme, which is now in its sixth edition;
Strengthened coordination between CONAPEES and other stakeholders, including parliamentary committees, the Supreme Court, the Public Defender’s Office, courts specializing in organized crime cases, the Uruguayan Press Association and journalists representing various news media. CONAPEES also took part in the discussion and preparation of the country’s report for its second universal periodic review;
Identification of gaps in the protection afforded by existing legislation and the preparation of a core document to serve as a basis for the development of a comprehensive protection law. The proposed bill will also include measures to strengthen network representation mechanisms. Victim support measures have been developed as part of Project O, which provides support for social protection in Uruguay and for policies on child-related issues and child services. This project was funded by international cooperation agencies and implemented by IOM, the Ministry of Social Development and INAU. A presentation on this project will be given in late 2014;
New support measures provided by INAU for children and adolescents in situations of sexual exploitation for commercial or non-commercial purposes from February 2012 on. INAU currently has a core regional team as well as two field teams which offer national coverage and carry out essential activities such as providing first responder services for victims, developing a local network of resources, training regional officials, and processing and systematizing information;
The production, funding and publication of research papers and articles on the issues covered in the Optional Protocol as a means of furthering research and building knowledge in this field. This information has subsequently been disseminated by the national and local media. The book Un secreto a voces (“A well-known secret”), which addresses the situation in the western part of Montevideo, was published a few weeks ago. As in previous years, CONAPEES and INAU sponsored the “Un trato por el buen trato” (“Treating people well”) campaign. The campaign’s objective is to identify around 100 adolescents to act as advocates for the promotion of efforts to combat violence, in general, and child sexual exploitation for commercial and non-commercial purposes, in particular.
4. Please provide information on the procedures for allocating resources for activities designed for the practical implementation of the Optional Protocol. Please also indicate what the budget for such activities has been over the past five years.
9.The approximate allocations (in dollars) for the following measures are given below:
Recruiting experts to conduct specific activities such as seminars and studies and to prepare publications: US$ 4,700 per month;
Recruiting two field teams: approximately US$ 17,700 per month;
Funding for projects related to the implementation of the Optional Protocol: US$ 5,000.
10.Funding has been provided for campaigns run by non-governmental organizations to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children and young persons. For example, INAU provided US$ 30,000 in funding and UNICEF provided US$ 40,000 in logistical support and media access for the “No hay excusas” (“No excuses”) campaign, and the European Union provided €200,000 in the form of international assistance to the “Deje de colaborar” (“No more complicity”) campaign.
11.Although INAU does provide a budget for CONAPEES, more support from member institutions is needed so that it can carry out its functions in a more efficient and structured manner.
5. In the light of the results of the study conducted by the Catholic University of Uruguay on the high number of downloads of child pornography, please provide information on any programmes which the State party has conducted to raise awareness of and publicize the Optional Protocol in order to dispel the sociocultural stereotypes that generate tolerance in society for the sexual exploitation of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
12.The “No hay excusas” campaign, which was launched under an agreement between UNICEF, INAU and CONAPEES, was the first national mass media and street-level campaign of its kind. It ran between March and October 2013 and included 52 radio, 20 television, 19 newspaper and 7 online interviews, 20,000 posters and 39,500 leaflets. The Committee was involved in the conceptual design of the campaign and in arriving at decisions regarding the campaign’s technical and operational resources. INAU funded the campaign, while UNICEF provided assistance in the form of logistical support and media access.
13.There were 3,532,474 Google searches recorded for this campaign, along with 20,004,073 visits to the campaign’s Facebook page, including 17,058 “likes”. The “No hay excusas” website recorded 20,762 visits. Funding was provided for awareness-raising activities, which included the distribution of promotional materials and the organization of a 5-km race in which the runners wore t-shirts displaying a toll-free number for reporting cases of exploitation. Sponsorships and funding were also provided to the cinema school of the DODECÁ cultural centre for the production of a film on the subject called “Tan frágil como un segundo” (“As fragile as a second”) starring young film students. The film premiered on 4 October 2014.
14.The “Deje de colaborar” campaign has been running since 2013. It seeks to raise awareness through the media and with the help of local stakeholders who use posters and training workshops on communication skills as their main tools. Workshops have been conducted for different groups, and posters and other promotional materials have been printed. A photo exhibition depicting public and other places where commercial sexual exploitation of children and young people tends to take place has also recently opened in a public walkway in Montevideo. The exhibition also includes photographs of former child victims of commercial sexual exploitation (now adults) who have offered to recount their experiences. The exhibition, which is the result of more than a year’s research into the subject, has been designed to raise the profile of the issue on the nation’s social and political agenda. Civil society organizations involved in the project include Fundación Visionair, the non-governmental organization Paso and CONAPEES.
6. Please provide information on the measures taken by the State party to ensure that those responsible for the administration of justice (lawyers, attorneys, prosecutors and judges), the staff of the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents and all other professionals working in the various areas addressed in the Optional Protocol, including those involved in efforts to combat the offences covered in the Optional Protocol and to provide rehabilitation and reintegration for child victims, are familiar with and understand its contents.
15.The Centre for Judicial Studies has introduced training courses for judges, aspiring judges, members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and public defenders, as outlined below. The following modules were provided as part of initial training courses in 2012:
“Human rights: implementation of international and constitutional protection instruments”, taught by Drs. Fernando Cardinal and Julio César Chalar (duration: 18 hours);
“Juvenile offenders”, taught by Drs. Eduardo Cavalli and Mariana Malet (duration: 12 hours);
“Domestic violence”, coordinated by Dr. María del Carmen Díaz (duration: 9 hours);
“The family”, taught by Drs. Ricardo Pérez Manrique and Mabel Rivero (duration: 9 hours).
16.The following in-service training courses were offered in 2012:
“Human trafficking”, held on 14, 16 and 17 May and taught by Drs. Julio Olivera, Virginia Ginares and Gastón Chaves (duration: 6 hours);
“Child sexual abuse”, organized jointly with the Public Prosecution Service and with the support of UNICEF. This 18-hour course comprised the following modules:
“Theoretical considerations relating to child sexual abuse and child witnesses” module I, organized jointly with UNICEF, held on 11 and 12 May and taught by Dr. Jorge Díaz, Ms. Paula Moreno and Mr. Egidio Crotti;
“Child sexual abuse: children’s and adolescents’ accounts of events” module II, held on 17 and 18 August and taught by Ms. Paula Moreno (Argentina);
“Children and adolescents in judicial proceedings” module III, held on 9 and 10 November and taught by Mr. Hernán Fernández (Chile).
17.The following in-service training courses were offered in 2013:
Repetition of the three modules of the course on child sexual abuse, held on 10 and 11 May, 6 and 7 September, and 8 and 9 November;
A course on domestic violence, held on 11, 12 and 13 June and taught by Drs. Ricardo Pérez Manrique, María Elena Emmenengger and Eduardo Cavalli (duration: 6 hours);
“Videoconference on the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents: draft amendment of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Code”, organized jointly by the Uruguayan Centre for Judicial Studies and the Public Prosecution Service with the support of the European Union, held on 1 August and taught by Drs. Ricardo Pérez Manrique, Eduardo Cavalli and Gilberto Rodríguez;
“Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children and amendments to Uruguayan legislation concerning adoption and foster care”, held on 30 October and taught by Drs. Ema Carozzi and Miguel Cillero (Chile). This course was given as a videoconference that was broadcast nationwide from Montevideo;
“Seminar on the juvenile criminal justice system”, held on 7 December and taught by Drs. Ricardo Pérez Manrique, Eduardo Cavalli and Mariana Malet;
“Seminar on the juvenile criminal justice system”, held on 5 October in Salto and taught by Drs. Ricardo Pérez Manrique, Eduardo Cavalli and Mariana Malet.
18.In 2014, the three modules of the course on child sexual abuse were held on 9 and 10 May, 5 and 6 September, and 7 and 8 November.
7. Please provide the Committee with information on the mechanisms used to identify children who are particularly at risk of falling prey to the offences described in the Optional Protocol, such as children living in poverty, street children, indigenous children and children living in remote rural areas. Please also provide information on the tangible measures taken to resolve the structural issues conducive to the commission of the acts covered in the Optional Protocol, such as poverty, social exclusion, segregation in housing and at school, domestic violence and discrimination against adolescents.
19.Activities have been organized for offices that provide services specifically for children living in poverty and on the streets, in addition to the measures taken to raise awareness and promote information exchange between child protection officials and agencies in general. Difficulties are encountered in small towns and rural areas where sexual exploitation is seen as normal and is deeply rooted.
20.Targeted programmes, involving specialist teams where appropriate, have been introduced in an attempt to combat and minimize the impact of poverty, social exclusion and domestic violence. CONAPEES launched a series of activities in 2013 in the western part of Montevideo involving members of the local community and representatives of academia. This initiative also provided for the temporary appointment of an eight-person team to carry out research and to train local stakeholders. As a result of these measures, the basis for a regional plan was developed in coordination with government agencies and regional civil society organizations. The plan, which focuses on restoring the rights of child victims, provides for the development of regional awareness-raising activities, the provision of training to local stakeholders, the development of prevention and support measures and, ultimately, the establishment of a specialist support mechanism for children and adolescents in exploitative situations.
8. Please provide further information on the implementation of measures to prevent sex tourism and on whether they have been evaluated and, if so, how effective they have been.
21.The executive branch adopted Decree No. 398/013 on 13 December 2013, which sets forth various actions that providers of tourism services must take in order to comply with their obligation to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young persons in the tourism industry. This decree states, inter alia, that providers of tourism services must:
(a)Adopt a corporate code of conduct that provides for monitoring mechanisms designed to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations set forth in the Constitution and domestic legislation and, in particular, in the Optional Protocol;
(b)Adopt measures to prevent their employees or intermediaries from offering the sexual services of children or adolescents to tourists;
(c)Report acts relating to the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young persons to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport and CONAPEES, as well as to the appropriate authorities;
(d)Ensure that their promotional programmes are free from any express or implied reference to the commercial sexual exploitation of children or young persons;
(e)Provide platforms for disseminating materials that promote efforts to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young persons.
22.In 2014, the authorities toured the various departments of the country and worked with departmental officials to disseminate information on these regulations; to this end, meetings were held with tourism service providers and members of the police, health services, education system, the Ministry of Social Development and civil society.
23.To date, over 1,000 tourism service providers clearly display posters on their premises that say “Somos Empresas Responsables. Condenamos la Explotación Sexual de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes” (“We are responsible businesses. We condemn the sexual exploitation of children and young persons”).
9. Please clarify whether the sale of children and child prostitution are criminal offences in their own right and whether cases of sexual exploitation of children, transfer of children ’ s organs for profit, forced child labour and illegal adoption have been dealt with as the sale of children. Similarly, please inform the Committee whether the possession of pornography and sex tourism have been classified as offences and, if not, what steps have been taken to explicitly criminalize them.
24.Child prostitution, the sale of children and sex tourism are not defined as offences in their own right in the country’s criminal laws. The sexual exploitation of children, the transfer of children’s organs for profit, forced child labour and illegal adoption have not been defined as the sale of children. However, these acts do fall under other legal provisions and are in fact prohibited and punishable as other types of offences.
25.Act No. 17.815, in fulfilment of the country’s international obligations under the Optional Protocol, defines a series of offences under which child prostitution and pornography are punishable. These are specific legal provisions that are not subsumed under the general provisions of the Criminal Code.
26.Act No. 17.815 provides that sexual exploitation of minors or persons declared legally incompetent and the abetment of such exploitation are offences in their own right. The Act prohibits any visual depiction or any other use of minors or persons declared legally incompetent in the production of pornographic material. The possession or storage of such pornographic material, however, is not a material element to the offence and is therefore not considered a crime, unless the intent is to sell the material.
27.Under article 4 of the Act, “paying or promising payment to minors or persons declared legally incapable for the performance of sexual or erotic acts of any kind” is defined as an offence. This article therefore prohibits not only payment but also the promise of payment to minors or persons declared legally incapable for the performance of sexual or erotic acts of any kind. The definition of this offence also covers the intention to engage in acts of child prostitution and grooming children to engage in prostitution, which includes acts associated with sex tourism.
28.Lastly, the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons for the removal or extraction of organs or for involvement in the provision of forced labour or services have been included as material elements of the offence of human trafficking under article 78 of Act No. 18.250. All persons involved in trafficking, whatever their role, are therefore considered perpetrators of the offence. Although this law deals with migration, this particular article refers to “persons”, rather than “migrants” and therefore covers everyone, including children. Under these provisions, any act of human trafficking whose purpose is to exploit children for sex tourism is a punishable offence. These same provisions also cover the sale of children if the purpose of the sale is any of the kinds of exploitation defined under the Act.
10. Please provide information on whether, under Uruguayan law, legal persons may be held criminally liable for committing offences covered in the Optional Protocol.
29.Uruguayan criminal law makes no provision for the criminal liability of juridical persons, and this applies to the offences covered in the Optional Protocol as well. The new draft Criminal Code, due to be adopted shortly, does not provide for the criminal liability of juridical persons either.
11. Please explain to the Committee whether the State party has extraterritorial jurisdiction over the offences covered by the Optional Protocol and, if so, under what conditions. Please also provide information on whether, in the absence of a bilateral treaty, the Optional Protocol may be used as a legal basis for the extradition of a person suspected of the offences covered by the Optional Protocol.
30.The principle of territoriality is brought to bear in criminal matters, and Uruguayan criminal legislation is therefore solely applicable at the national level. The Criminal Code applies only to offences committed by nationals or foreigners on Uruguayan territory. Offences committed by nationals or foreigners on foreign territory are not subject to Uruguayan law, except where expressly stated otherwise. This principle is a corollary of the concept of State sovereignty and of the idea that a State’s jurisdiction extends only up to its territorial borders.
31.Exceptions to this rule are provided for in cases involving the principle of defence or protection, nationality or personality, and universal justice. The existing regulations do not specifically provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences covered by the Optional Protocol, but, depending on the regulatory provision in question, may indirectly lead to that result in certain cases.
32.Offences committed by a Uruguayan national abroad can therefore be punished in accordance with Uruguayan law in cases of dual criminality in which the perpetrator is on Uruguayan territory and is not subject to an extradition request. Offences committed by a foreigner abroad against a Uruguayan national can also be tried in Uruguay when the perpetrator is on Uruguayan territory and is not sought by the State in which he or she committed the offence. In this case, the more lenient of the two States’ laws applies. Where no specific regulation has been established concerning offences covered in the Optional Protocol, Uruguayan judges may assume jurisdiction for offences committed abroad in accordance with the provisions of article 10, paragraphs 5 and 6, of the Criminal Code. This also applies in cases where explicit legal provisions or international treaties exist which confer extraterritorial jurisdiction upon Uruguayan courts.
33.Extradition in Uruguay is not subject to the existence of a treaty, nor is it limited by the nationality of the person sought. In cases where no bilateral agreement exists, the general framework for granting an extradition request from a foreign authority is established in article 32 of the Code of Criminal Procedure:
“(Extradition regime) – Where no extradition treaty exists, the granting of extradition requests is subject to three preconditions:
(a)The offences concerned must carry a sentence of at least 2 years’ imprisonment;
(b)The requesting Government must submit the application to the executive branch accompanied by a copy of the judgement or arrest warrant and the supporting documents required in order for an arrest to be made under Uruguayan law;
(c)There must be a court statement confirming that the extradition request is legally valid and that both the accused and the prosecutor have been heard in a criminal court.”
34.As there are specific legal provisions that specify how extradition requests are to be handled when they are received from countries with which Uruguay has no bilateral treaty, there is no need to invoke the Optional Protocol for that purpose.
12. Please inform the Committee whether programmes have been developed and adopted to protect and support child victims and witnesses of offences covered in the Optional Protocol during their contact with the criminal justice system, specifying whether such programmes are available throughout the country and how they address the specific concerns of child victims and witnesses of the offences covered in the Optional Protocol.
35.In cases of alleged offences covered in the Optional Protocol, Uruguayan legislation provides for the determination of the responsibility of the alleged perpetrator by the criminal courts to proceed concurrently with the adoption of measures of protection and restitution by a special family court in order to redress threats to, or violations of, the rights of the children and/or young persons concerned.
36.In such cases, certain actions must be taken within 48 hours, as provided for in the Constitution. In this brief time frame, which begins to run from the moment that an arrest is made, a determination must be reached as to whether the suspect will be subject to criminal prosecution. As a consequence of this accelerated investigation process, the rights of the children or young persons concerned may be infringed during their questioning, as speed is of the essence owing to the time limits set in order to protect detainees. In practice, this means that a child may be questioned immediately by the judge, prosecutor and defence lawyer. At the same time, a special family court begins the process of restoring or safeguarding the rights of the child or children, who are questioned by the judge, prosecutor and defence lawyer.
37.Only courts in the capital city have Gesell chambers and court officials who have been trained in their use. However, a committee responsible for monitoring this service has reported that, at least up until 2013, these facilities were not being used properly. The Supreme Court has instructed the committee to continue its work with a view to improving the use of these chambers. The measures to be adopted to this end are under consideration.
38.Unfortunately, the available buildings vary in nature and are not always ideal for the attendance by children and young persons at the corresponding proceedings because of delays, unsuitable locales and the possibility that they would come into contact with persons associated with the suspect.
39.Article 11 of the Code on Children and Adolescents provides that all children have the right to their privacy. Children are entitled to not be subjected to having their image used in a harmful manner or having any information published that might harm them or lead to their identification. The Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the courts to decide whether to apply the principle of judicial confidentiality during proceedings in order to protect the rights of persons involved in the case. Domestic Violence Act No. 17.514 also establishes the guiding principle of the prevention of secondary victimization and thereby prohibits the practice of having victims and the accused engage in confrontation proceedings or make joint appearances in cases involving children or adolescents under the age of 18. This prohibition is absolute and applies directly to cases of domestic violence and to all proceedings in criminal and special family courts involving offences covered in the Optional Protocol.
40.The Supreme Court conferred normative value on the Brasilia Regulations Regarding Access to Justice for Vulnerable People, which are designed to guarantee effective access to justice for vulnerable persons, without discrimination, who, due to their age, gender, physical or mental state or to social, economic, ethnic and/or cultural circumstances, find it especially difficult to fully exercise their rights before the justice system.
41.Lastly, the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the country, has ruled that, in cases of domestic violence:
“Judges must ensure effective compliance with article 18 of Act No. 17.514 (as well as articles 3, 6 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará (CBDP)) and Regulation No. 67 of the Brasilia Regulations Regarding Access to Justice for Vulnerable People – Decision No. 7647), thereby avoiding confrontation proceedings or joint appearances by victims and the accused in any case involving persons under the age of 18. Joint appearances may be exceptionally admitted in cases involving persons over the age of 18 upon the request of the complainant, following the receipt of confirmation by legal specialists that the complainant is in a fit state to take part in a joint appearance. It should be borne in mind that the prohibition set forth in article 18 of Act No. 17.514 extends to visual contact or communication in court or during the appraisal phase.”
13. Please provide information on the measures implemented by the State party to ensure that the victims of the offences covered in the Optional Protocol are not treated as criminals or stigmatized. Please also include information on the tangible measures taken to prevent them from being socially marginalized and to facilitate their reintegration and their physical and mental rehabilitation.
42.Measures have been implemented to restore victims’ rights to health and education by promoting their reintegration into the education system and by improving their access to existing health-care facilities. The advisability of enrolling victims in career guidance or vocational programmes is evaluated on the basis of the stage that they have reached in their recovery. At the community level, efforts are made to coordinate with adult family members of the victim or members of the victim’s social support networks, as well as with local field teams that offer specialist support and work to ensure continuity of care for victims.