Deaf ear to child violence
Too little is being done in Greece to provide an outlet for children to talk about violence, child experts said yesterday after unveiling a survey which suggested that most schoolchildren had first-hand experience of violent acts. The National Center for Social Research (EKKE) questioned some 2,000 children at elementary and junior high schools in Athens about their experience with violence. Almost eight in 10 said that they had seen children bullying other students at school. Almost half the children (45 percent) said they had seen adults hitting someone else and a third admitted to having bullied other children. Researchers were surprised to discover that 19 percent of 11-year-olds said they knew a child who had been sexually molested. The office of the Child’s Ombudsman, which was set up in 2003, said that Greece has not done enough to protect children’s rights. «Most children, especially those faced with problems of violence, tell us that they do not have anyone to talk to,» said Giorgos Moschos, the child’s ombudsman.
