Agreement to protect teens and children of women victims of domestic violence

Agreement to protect teens and children of women victims of domestic violence 
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, March 17, 2012

Both entities are concerned and worried about the recovery of these children and adolescents, helping them in their recovery through psychological care and social and family support.

Through the agreement, CONANI proceeds to the identification of children and adolescents affected by domestic violence, with emphasis on the children of mothers who have died for this reason.

The First Lady of the Republic, Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, and Lic. Kirsis Fernández, President of the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI for its acronym in Spanish), following up on the National Pact for the Eradication of Violence Against Women, agreed to carry out joint actions to comply with the clause that commits the entities involved in the development of programs for children and adolescents of mothers who are survivors of domestic violence.

Both entities are concerned and worried about the recovery of these children and adolescents, helping them through psychological care and social and family support, which are necessary to allow them to regain confidence and security, so that they do not repeat violent situations later in life.

Through the agreement, CONANI proceeds to the identification of children and adolescents affected by domestic violence, with emphasis on the children of mothers who have died for this reason.

Additionally, the CONANI coordinates, through the protection system, the actions that are necessary to provide psychological support to children and adolescents that have been affected by the type of violence already mentioned, so that they can recover emotionally, and so that the trauma they have suffered does not limit their development and the possibility for them to become good men and women in society.

Similarly, the Office of the First Lady and the CONANI will ensure the relocation, within their extended family, of children and adolescents that have been orphaned due to violence against women. This will be done through the identification of uncles, grandparents or older siblings who can take responsibilityfor their care and protection. These actions are based on principle VIII of Law 136-03, which states that the family is responsible, firstly, for ensuring that children and adolescents fully and effectivelyenjoy and exercise their fundamental rights.

The Progresando Program, which promotes the comprehensive development of families, will ensure the necessary support for children and adolescents in the above-mentioned situation, so that they may be declared, they may attend school, have their vaccinations up to date, receive health care, and that they and their families may have access to training in life skills at the Progresando Training Centers and the Community Technology Centers that have been installed by the Office of the First Lady.

The agreement between the Office of the First Lady and the CONANI also implements Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the country, which provides that the States that are Parties to the Convention shall take all the appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental abuse or injury, neglect or negligent treatment, mistreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while the child is under the care of the parents, legal guardian or any other person who has the child under his / her care.