Stop asking for more protection for victims of abuse and PS admits it is “overhauling the prescription regime”.

This Thursday, Chega called on Parliament to take a “big step forward” in protecting child victims of sexual abuse, with the PS recognizing the “review of the statute of limitations” for these crimes.

In a debate about “the fight against sexual abuse of minors in Portugal” requested by Chega, André Ventura mentioned “several scandals” involving children in recent decades, the most recent being in the Catholic Church, cases that were condemned in a report prepared by the independent a commission set up to do “which will certainly bring disgrace to all, Catholic or not”.

President Chegi believed that the Assembly of the Republic “failed to protect children” as it allowed “aggressors to remain at large”, arguing that only “a residual number of cases end in effective imprisonment” under current law.

“It’s time for us to take a big step forward and guarantee the protection of victims,” ​​Andre Ventura defended, calling on parties to endorse his party’s initiatives to increase penalties for crimes of sexual abuse of minors, prevent suspension fines and extend the statute of limitations, including .

Ventura also criticized the joint proposal by all other parties to set up a working group to evaluate changes in the law on sexual harassment committed against minors, given that “the Portuguese no longer want working groups to cover up the problem.”

Despite criticism from other parties, this Thursday Chega formalized a proposal to set up a working group in parliament on the issue, following what was announced on 23 February.

During the debate, PS MP Claudia Santos stressed that the issue “requires full respect and full restraint” and that “the use of victims for political ends” must be prevented.

The Socialist MP accused Chega of going “to look for his ideas in a drawer” but having no answers “for the current victims” and pointed out that the opinions received by the party’s proposals “could not have been more crushing”.

Claudia Santos stated that the PS recognizes “a review of the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against children, taking into account the Commission’s recommendations and international commitments” and defends the need for investment in prevention, which should “go through the mandatory establishment of a ‘compliance’ program in organizations that accept children, with risk assessment and “mitigation guidelines”, audits and internal reporting channels.

The MP also stated that “an amendment to the mandatory attendance regime provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure should be considered”, acknowledging that “any person who has contact with children within organizations that accept them will be required to report”.

Social Democrat Fernando Negrao, who is also President of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, questioned André Ventura because he criticized other parties for the proposal of the working group when he did the same and indicated that the two requests would be discussed at the next meeting of the commission. .

The SDP MP pointed out that “those who change the basic codes should be able to wait for the most opportune moment”, but felt that sexual offenses against minors in the Catholic Church were “severe enough to require a decisive, decisive and effective response” from the clergy.

Responding to a question from André Ventura, who said that the SDP leader “now agrees with an increase in the statute of limitations for this type of crime”, the former leader of the parliament stated that Luis Montenegro “said that we need to think about measures that will”.

MP Patricia Gilvaz said that the Liberal Initiative would accompany the proposal to increase the statute of limitations, since it had a proposal in the same direction, but did not agree “with a suspension of the execution of the sentence” because it would be necessary “to consider the full harmony of criminal law”.

The Liberal MP also pointed to a number of criticisms of the actions of the Catholic Church following the release of the final report of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse in the “Give a Voice to Silence” institution, which asks for justice for the Catholic Church. victims and advocating that “reparations cannot be moral or symbolic”.

The leader of the BE parliament criticized that “if the country was shocked by what happened inside the church and that it was exposed by all the abuses exposed”, it “was also shocked by the reaction of the church”.

In response to André Ventura’s accountability to Parliament, Pedro Filipe Soares defended that “some are much more guilty than others” and criticized Cheg for “not saying a word about the removal of priests who abused children.” .

The blogger pointed out that his party had submitted “exactly the same proposal that the commission proposed” regarding the prescription of these crimes, and defended the fact that one of the ways to protect children is sex education.

“Violation of the rights of children and young people cannot be solved with the help of servility, inertia and cover-up. These situations require urgent intervention, they require reparation and prevention, they do not call for populism,” emphasized the only member of Skovoroda.