The Implementation Council of the National Strategy for Combatting Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography, established pursuant to the recently enacted relevant Law, held its first meeting yesterday, 3 May 2018.
The main mission of the newly established Council is to implement the National Strategy for Combatting Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography.
In her introductory speech, Ms Anastasia Papadopoulou, Chairperson of the Council, welcomed and congratulated the members of the Council and expressed certainty for a fruitful cooperation, both among the members and with State institutions, in order to implement the National Strategy and eliminate the social scourge of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
She went on to add that, in her view, “it is the Council's self-evident duty and obligation to remain vigilant at all times and to objectively evaluate all institutions of the State and society, so as to deter phenomena, events and behaviors of the past, which have harmed individuals and justifiably outraged society”.
Ms Papadopoulou also stressed that the Council must become the “Voice” of prevention as well as treatment, through knowledge and education. The “Voice” of all those involved in children's lives, their “Voice” through education in schools, on the internet, in homes, in all the media. But above all, it will be the “Voice” of the child victims themselves, in the effort to combat this scourge that torments children first and foremost. It will be the “Voice” that will restore the victims’ dignity and equip them to move forward, free from the traumatic experience of the past.
By unanimous decision, the Council will be named Foni.
The composition of the Council is as follows: