Shelter abuse protests continue in rainstorm
Youthful protestors arrived at the offices of National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family (Seniaff) on Friday February 19 in the midst of a torrential downpour to continue their 10th day of protests while scores of police sealed off the surrounding streets. The storm muffled but failed to stifle the chants of outrage at the reports of abuse of children and adolescents in shelters allegedly supervised by the institution.
For 10 days they have demanded to know the progress of the investigations, names of shelters investigated and the condition of the children, while the authorities have avoided giving details of the revelations of a report by a legislative subcommittee on physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of minors, in 50 shelters supervised by the State.
What happened leaves more questions than answers. And some of the explanations seem to be forbidden by the authorities, under the argument of “confidentiality” reports La Prensa.
To date, the number of foundations involved in these events and of shelters that do not meet the requirements to function is unknown. Neither has anything been said about the internal investigations that the Senniaf and the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) had to initiate to determine responsibilities.
There is no date for the appearance before the National Assembly of the Minister of Mides and the director of Senniaf, who face calls to resign after hearing a report prepared by a subcommittee of the Commission on Women, Children and the Family of the National Assembly. That report is now in the hands of the Public Ministry (MP) .
On Friday Attorney General, Eduardo Ulloa, said that the proceedings on the investigations began on Thursday, but he cannot specify what it is about since, according to him, he would make known the strategy of the prosecution.
“I cannot give you details of each case in particular, because many involve minors. We have a legal obligation to keep the summary investigation secret out of respect for the people involved, ”he said.
