Investigation of alleged abuse of minors in shelters in Panama

(CNN) -

The Public Ministry of Panama opened an ex officio investigation into the allegations of alleged abuse of minors in children's shelters, based on publications from the country's media, as reported this Friday through a message on its account of Twitter, in which he details that he requests reports from the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family (SENNIAF), the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) and the National Assembly of Panama.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) asked the Panamanian authorities on Thursday to promptly investigate the complaints about alleged abuse and mistreatment of children and adolescents in some shelters in the country, revealed in a report by the National Assembly from Panama.

In a statement, Unicef ​​recalled that minors in shelters "are under the special protection of the State" and that in order to prevent any form of violence, abuse and mistreatment, individual and corporate interests must be set aside and children must be put on the forefront. in front.

This Monday, the Commission for Women, Children, Youth and the Family of the National Assembly of Panama revealed a preliminary report to which CNN had access, in which it is assured that through the field investigation they found "concrete evidence of abuse, violence and physical mistreatment of sheltered boys, girls and adolescents, especially when they have some condition of intellectual disability.

According to the document, which does not provide details of the facts, it is an investigation that began in August 2019, by a subcommission made up of 4 deputies, and that was opened due to complaints against a foundation that ran a shelter, which it received a subsidy from the State, and had to be supervised by the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family, called SENNIAF.

It is assured that this investigation detected more cases in shelters nationwide.

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Deputy Zulay Rodríguez, president of the Commission that carried out the investigations, revealed to CNN that in order to protect the victims and not to alert the possible perpetrators, they have another report in reserve, consisting of more than 500 pages, with testimonies and photographs collected. for six months and that will be delivered next week, when, according to what he said, the criminal complaint will be filed.

Situations such as lack of protocols and specialized personnel, as well as operation without operating permission was part of what was detected, according to the preliminary document.

"Throughout the investigation we discovered that at the national level shelters appear in operation without SENNIAF knowing of their existence," the report states, adding that they found minors with disabilities who did not receive specialized care.

This document does not directly mention the possible perpetrators of the crimes or the dates in question, but through a statement, SENNIAF undertook to take "administrative, legislative, judicial and any other measures" to guarantee that " facts of the past according to the report issued by the National Assembly of Deputies of Panama, do not arise again violating the rights of children and adolescents under the protection measures.

For its part, the Ministry of Social Development, which administers the SENNIAF, said in a statement that it repudiates "any act that violates the human rights" of minors and explained that it carries out monitoring and interventions to review compliance with the standards of quality of the hostels.

He indicated that between August 2019 and November 2020, 8 shelters were closed and reported that last year criminal complaints were filed for crimes of mistreatment of minors.

Regarding the report in question, the Ministry of Social Development assures that it has asked the Assembly Commission without success, but that regardless of this, they take legal, criminal and administrative actions in the shelters for children and adolescents in which they have found non-compliance or misuse of the resources provided by the State.

"MIDES has never made a statement as we have reached the end of the investigation," Deputy Walkiria Chandler, who heads the investigating subcommittee, told CNN when asked about the alleged refusal to deliver the report.

"MIDES did not ask for anything at all," he said, detailing that the Commission had them appear using legislative powers.

Child abuse UNICEF