27Self-defense of children against sexual violence
Marcellin Champagnat believed that children should receive an education based on respect and love, and that schools should be spaces free of violence and physical punishment.
Contributing to this legacy, since 2007, the Marist Foundation for International Solidarity (FMSI), supports political advocacy spaces and local experiences in defending the human rights of children and adolescents. In keeping with the United Nations Study on Violence against Children (2006), FMSI also supports the prohibition of all forms of violence against children in all contexts, through a commitment to non-violent values and the transformation of attitudes that violence is naturalized.
In Brazil, inspired by the appeals of the XXI and XXII General Chapter expressing a belief in the promotion, protection and defense of the rights of children and young people, and in their empowerment as agents of transformation, the Marist Center for the Defense of Children, dedicated to the defense of the rights of Brazilian girls and boys, develops the ” Campaign Defend Yourself: self-defense of children against sexual violence”.
The project has a series of videos with friendly and accessible language that illustrate daily situations in which the child is able to act preventively for self-defense, using narratives in which they are encouraged to report situations of sexual violence directly to the channels of complaint recognized in the country.
All videos are available in Portuguese, Spanish and English. The expansion of language allows more children to be able to defend against sexual violence. In addition, the campaign assumes the cultural diversity that exists in the ways of being a child as a premise in its development.
We hope that in a creative and articulated network we can create other joint opportunities to continue this challenge, helping children and adolescents to be able to break the cycle of violence, recognizing them as subjects of rights.
Realization: Marist Center for the Defense of Childhood and Marist Solidarity Network
Support: FMSI
