Violence witnessed by children: the number of minors witnessing domestic abuse is growing

Violence witnessed by children: the number of minors witnessing domestic abuse is growing

ROME - On Mother's Day, Pangea – who has been fighting against a culture that justifies discrimination and violence against women since 2002 – has launched an appeal to draw attention to a phenomenon whose numbers are growing alarmingly and which in many cases remains submerged: "the witnessed violence – declares Simona Lanzoni, vice president of Pangea – is an all too underestimated issue and needs the right recognition inside and outside the courtrooms, among social workers, psychologists.”

Even minors are an offended party. This indirect violence, framed by theWHO (the World Health Organization) among the serious forms of maltreatment, makes the victim, almost always a minor, a spectator of repeated or isolated episodes of maltreatment perpetrated against a loved one, mostly within the family environment. According to Istat estimates, in families where there are maltreatment practices, about 50% of minors witness violence, while 10% suffer it. The phenomenon, which worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic which forced adults and children inside the home for prolonged periods, has a devastating impact on the growth of the victim, leading, in the majority of cases, to delays in psychophysical development, anxiety, loss of self-esteem , depression, guilt feelings, inability to socialize, aggression, self-harm. Furthermore, abused former children run the risk of becoming adults who live with a heavy burden of pain, generating a vicious circle of intergenerational transmission of violence.

Witnessing violence is part of violence against women. Although the Law n. 69/2019 (provisions on domestic and gender-based violence) qualifies the minor victim of witnessing violence as an offended person of the crime, there are still too many - Pangea denounces - the women who have to fight in the civil courts to obtain custody and custody of the minor, despite the proven episodes of violence by the father: “this happens because it is thought that an abusive husband can also be a good father when instead a parent who beats the other parent cannot be a good father. Too often the second prevails between the right of the minor and that of both parents. The best interests of the child, on the other hand, must always be at the centre". If minors exposed to violence are not recognized as legal subjects who need an ad hoc path made up of social workers and psychological support, it is because the data on witnessing violence does not go hand in hand with that of women victims of violence. The root of the problem lies in the violence suffered by the mother who to date is not sufficiently recognized and protected by law.

Necessary policies to protect mothers. Referring to the General Assembly on the birth rate held a few days ago, Lanzoni affirms that “it will be difficult to guarantee an increase in the birth rate if the government and the social partners do not work to increase female employment. For this, in addition to words, facts are needed. If we don't concretely invest in public and inclusive nursery schools and kindergartens, if we don't apply a real labor reform based on fair pay for men and women, if we don't equalize parental leave, if we don't invest in welfare and we don't intensify the network of services, we can say what we want but in reality we don't expect a growth in the birth rate". Women still suffer from cultural conditioning that hinders their path and the fact that only men, apart from President Meloni, spoke about the birth rate today on the stage of the Forum, is significant of the role of women in our society."

Little Guests. There Pangea Foundation carry on the project Little Guests that through meetings and playful pedagogical workshops wants to recover the mother-child bond very often undermined by domestic violence and prevent its intergenerational transmission. Today the program is present in 5 different centers of the Reama national anti-violence network: in Lazio, in the Marche, in Sicily, in Sardinia and in Campania. “Children are victims in all respects of domestic violence apparently suffered only by their mother. Giving adequate support to young witnesses, together with their mothers, as required by the Istanbul Convention, is a form of prevention against violence for future generations". Here you can support the project.



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