The Ombudsman, Alfredo Ruiz, in the presentation of the annual management report of this institution before the plenary session of the National Assembly, highlighted that the country’s children and adolescents were a priority for the Ombudsman’s Office last 2021.
Ruiz said that “this sector of the population has suffered more than anyone else from the change in habits and situations due to the confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, presenting high levels of emotional and physical vulnerability, increasing cases of abuse”.
He added that this group of Venezuelans has been one of the most vulnerable: “suffering serious changes in their living conditions, in their possibilities for games, recreation and education”.
Faced with this situation, he explained that the Ombudsman’s Office redoubled its efforts in the promotion, defense and surveillance tasks to guarantee the enjoyment of the rights of this group.
He indicated that from his administration, articulation has been strengthened with different institutions such as the Ministry of People’s Power for Education, the child protection councils, as well as UNICEF and the Confederation of the Deaf of Venezuela, “to give a special (treatment) to our children and adolescents, and in the defense of their rights”.
During the conference held this Tuesday, he took the opportunity to highlight the 22 years of the Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, the Law for the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Abuse against Children and Adolescents, as well as the project of Law of Civil Guardianship of Boys, Girls and Adolescents that are being discussed in the AN, and the recently approved Law of Peaceful Coexistence in Schools.
