One in five children fall victim to abuse and one in six are facing mental problems, the House human rights committee heard on Monday.

Oelmek’s representative Christos Tziortas said “things got worse in the post-pandemic period”, with up to 4,500 having been victims of abuse.

These numbers, he said, were only those reported and “the real number may be much higher”.

Hope for Children said “30 per cent of child abuse reports were made in the school environment.”

Child psychiatrist Irene Lordou said the number of children facing psychological problems had “rapidly increased over the past few years”, according to data obtained by the Cyprus Child Mental Health Service.
The discussion was held in the light of the abuse case in Larnaca that came to light on March 28, in which parents were reported to have been abusing their five children for years.

Committee chairwoman Irene Charalambidou said the social services seemed to be “lagging” behind developments.

Deputy Welfare Minister Marilena Evangelou informed the MPs that a report had been ordered, as well as an administrative investigation into the Larnaca case “to determine if all procedures had been properly observed”.

Commissioner for children’s rights Despo Michaelidou spoke of long-standing and unsolved weaknesses.
Michaelidou said that to properly manage cases involving children, the services needed to focus on cooperating with each other and follow protocols.

“Social services should be properly structured to be able to function preventatively.”

Michaelidou said the social services were understaffed, which meant each officer had less time to allocate to each case, adding that “time is necessary to build trust”.

The deputy welfare minister said 15 more officers had recently been hired for the social services and that it was necessary to employ more.

The deputy ministry’s permanent secretary, Yiannis Nicolaides, agreed it was important to strengthen the social services.

Lordou said it was not enough to employ further officers for the social services and pointed out the necessity to develop cooperation among all involved ministries.

Social services director Maria Kyratzi said a study would be commissioned in 2025 for “the implementation of horizontal child protection, with the participation of the education, health, justice and welfare ministries”.

Poed chairwoman Myria Vasiliou said teachers were “catalytic” in bringing cases to light and that it was necessary to establish social workers at schools for direct intervention.

Tziortas said “we are already late regarding social workers in schools”, adding that the services needed to cooperate more effectively.

Hope for Children representative Andri Angastinioti said it was encouraging that children suffering abuse were able to speak about it at school, adding that it was important that teachers were managing to build relationships of trust with the children.

Charalambidou praised the work of the teachers and said the society as a whole should take steps forward and the government should put the people first.