Romania is in an "extremely worrying" position regarding child sexual abuse materials presented online, and international reports show a "significant" increase in cases, state counselor at the Prime Minister's Chancellery Valentin Vatajelu said on Wednesday.
He participated in the online roundtable meeting on the theme "Combating online sexual exploitation and abuse of children in Romania", organized under the aegis of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), agerpres reports.
"We are talking about exploiting a vulnerability. Vulnerable children offline become easy targets online. Abused, neglected or isolated children are increasingly easier to manipulate, and technology, when used by criminals, multiplies both the speed and anonymity and the profile of exploitation", explained Valentin Vatajelu.
According to him, the number of cases investigated has increased significantly in the last decade, and these figures "are not just statistics, they are an institutional alarm signal".
The number of specialists is too small, pointed out the state councilor, who also advocated for support for the mental health of investigators.
"Romania can no longer afford a slow, fragmented and reactive response. We need prevention, specialized investigations, adapted legislation, real protection for victims and a greater responsibility for the digital environment", said Vatajelu.
He highlighted the importance of collaboration in this area.
"In combating this phenomenon, we are not just talking about the Police, prosecutors or a single ministry. We need cooperation between institutions, schools, social services, local authorities, civil society, digital service providers and institutional and international partners. But we need something more, we need reporting of cases, because silence protects the aggressor and not the child, and shame should not be the victim's, because the fear of scandal cannot be stronger than our obligation to protect a child", pointed out Valentin Vatajelu.
In turn, Irina Nastase, ICMEC's program manager for Romania, who cited reports from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), showed that, three years ago, Romania had among the highest numbers of child abuse reported online: 133,054 in 2023, a 25% increase compared to 2019, namely 726 victims per 100,000 inhabitants.
She explained that, according to studies, most victims are girls before puberty, and boys are more often victims of sexual blackmail.
The President of the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes, Mihaela Chiper, spoke about the infrastructure that supports abused minors.
"Since 2021, we have started building interrogation rooms for children. (...) We want to show the community that there are safe spaces where children can disclose sexual abuse, they can disclose abuse in general, they are not limiting, they do not only refer to sexual abuse, they refer to all types of suffering that children can experience, when they identify trusted adults around them, to whom they can disclose the abuse. There are over 150 interrogation rooms in Romania at the moment and it is an absolutely remarkable thing and one of the amazing progress that public institutions in Romania have generated. However, these rooms need well-trained, informed users and people who are balanced and healthy, to do this work in the long term", said Chiper.
