Project completed. 2019 - 2020 y. "Holding joint events with the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus aimed at harmonizing the procedure for the participation of children who have suffered from sexual violence and child pornography in criminal proceedings in a friendly environment"

The project "Conducting joint activities with the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus aimed at harmonizing the procedure for the participation of children who have suffered sexual violence and child pornography in criminal proceedings in a friendly environment" was implemented in 2019-2020 with the financial support of the Small Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Belarus.

The aim of the project is to strengthen the interaction of stakeholders to reduce the degree of re-traumatization of minor victims of sexual violence and child pornography in criminal proceedings to ensure the best interests of children.

Research has been conducted on the effectiveness of using child-friendly interview rooms created in the Republic of Belarus by interviewing 758 employees of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus for criminal cases and 22 employees who ensure the activities of child-friendly interview rooms in the Republic of Belarus.

Participants (law enforcement officers, NGOs and other interested parties) of 5 round tables held at the Office of the Investigative Committee for the Vitebsk, Mogilev, Brest, Grodno and Gomel regions and the final seminar in Minsk got acquainted with and discussed the results of a study on the effectiveness of using child-friendly rooms and had the opportunity to exchange practical experience, discuss problematic issues that have arisen in the process of working with minor victims of sexual violence and child pornography, and make recommendations to improve the use of specialized child-friendly rooms, their work and ways to improve.

Based on the results of the study, "Recommendations were developed based on the results of a study of the effectiveness of specialized child-friendly rooms, ways to improve them and prospects for further popularization" and "An algorithm for interaction between law enforcement agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders in identifying the fact of sexual abuse of minors and (or) involvement in child pornography in order to reduce the degree of repeated psychological traumatization".