Surge in sex crimes against minors

Panama is experiencing a surge of  sexual crimes  against minors with  2,218 reported in the first nine months on path to  exceed 3,000 for the year according to the Public  Ministry.

The most common are rape and consensual sexual relations. Prosecutor Maruquel Castroverde told La Prensa that cases of rape of minors have registered a constant increase. In 2015 there were 1. 814 cases, in 2016 thousand 1,882 and in 2017 there were  2 986 cases.

A  bill to create a pedophile registry rests in the National Assembly and there is little funding for education initiatives.

Castroverde , says  that most cases of sexual abuse are committed against  girls leading to pregnancies, forced marriage and  school desertion, in addition to the psychological damage to the victim.

Forensic psychiatrist Alejandro Pérez , at the Institute of Forensic Medicine and

Sciences (Imelfc), says that generally individuals who commit sex offenses have disorders originating in childhood and related to sexuality.  In the case of child abuse, Pérez points out that there are usually two large groups of

victims of sexual crimes: “children under 10, in which the aggressor is generally an acquaintance

and, in addition, represents an authority figure. Therefore, the victim does not speak, because they threaten her or convince her of the action

The other group is adolescents, in which there is usually penetration by   the “boyfriend” or an unknown person.

“One of the most common mistakes –  is that people tell the children: ‘do not let anyone touch you’, so

that when the child is touched he experiences a feeling of guilt for having allowed this to happen, keeps silent.

“What you have to tell the children is that nobody has the right to touch their body, and if someone does, they should inform their parents,” says. Pérez. He, suggests sex education programs so that children learn to defend themselves against aggression when it is committed by an acquaintance or an authority figure.

No funds
Yazmín Cárdenas , director of Senniaf, (Family and Chilren Secretariat) says that in 2018 a four-year plan was launched to combat all types of violence against the population under 17 years of age.  She says  that currently neither the Senniaf nor the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) have specific economic resources to provide comprehensive treatment to minors who are sexually abused.

In  March deputy Adolfo Valderrama presented  a bill for the creation of a pedophile registry.An initiative to establish a registry of people convicted of crimes against sexual freedom and integrity had already been presented by two other  deputies .

The projects were merged into the Government Commission of the National Assembly and in October the initiative was approved in first debate. Castroverde points out that this initiative would be viable when there is a final and enforceable judgment with which that base can be fed.