Child as a Witness

Below you can find European Court of Human Rights Judgement delivered on 19 June 2007, in the case of W.S. v. Poland (Application no. 21508/02).

Among others, the case concerns interviewing a child victim of sexual abuse.

 

The brochure When a child is a witness in court, published in the frame of Childhood without Abuse Project, is addressed to child witnesses' parents and caregivers. It explains parents' rights as well as the rights of their children within court procedures.

The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse was adopted and opened for signature in October 2007, and since then has been signed by 28 of the Council of Europe's member states. It is the first international treaty to provide criminal penalties for those who sexually abuse children and a valuable tool for preventing and combating violations of children's fundamental rights.

On 18th of March, 2008, in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, police officers arrested a group of 11 year old minors, and brought them in for an "informational conversation". The police took the children away without informing neither the parents of these children, the director of the school, any of the teachers, nor the school psychologist.