{"id":306850,"date":"2019-03-28T22:20:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T21:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-protection-of-minors-formation-prevention-and-zero-tolerance\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:39:08","slug":"the-protection-of-minors-formation-prevention-and-zero-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-protection-of-minors-formation-prevention-and-zero-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"The protection of minors: formation, prevention and zero tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the first international meeting for those in the Movement responsible for the protection of minors, Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-president, Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n, have written to all the members of the Movement on the Focolare\u2019s commitment in this field.<\/em> \u201cWe invite all of you to commit very responsibly to this very important aim of promoting the wellbeing and protection of minors.\u201d Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-president Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n addressed these words in their letter, sent on 27th<\/sup> March, to all the members of the Focolare Movement in the world after the first international meeting of those in the Movement who are responsible for the protection of minors. (See letter attached<\/a>) The meeting, held from 14th \u2013 17th March at Castel Gandolfo (Rome), was attended by 162 participants from 38 countries and all continents. It was an opportunity to take stock of the Focolare\u2019s commitment to the wellbeing and protection of every person. This commitment has always existed in the Movement and can be seen in the many training events, initiatives and projects organised all over the world to promote child and adolescent wellbeing. Guidelines and commissions for the protection of minors<\/strong> In April 2014 the Movement adopted \u201cGuidelines for the Promotion of the Wellbeing and the Protection of Minors\u201d\u00a0 and in 2015 a Central Commission for the Promotion of the Wellbeing and the Protection of Minors (CO.BE.TU (in Italian)) was established. Around the world, local commissions have been created in various countries or there are well qualified people responsible for this role. Their task is \u201cto protect, but also to promote formation activities for our members, especially those who work with minors.\u201d The commissions also have the task of receiving reports of alleged abuse and undertaking a process of verification within the Movement. Maria Voce and Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n explain in the letter that over the years about 20 reports have been received and they communicate that, \u201cIt deeply pains us to recognise that, also in our own large family of the Focolare, some cases of abuse regarding minors caused by people who belong to the Movement, or by people who have taken part in meetings organised by us, have occurred. Most of these episodes occurred in the remote past (even over 20 years ago), but unfortunately some have occurred in the recent past. Consecrated members of the Movement were also involved in these.\u201d The President and Co-president affirm with deep gratitude that the establishment of the Central Commission and the local commissions has helped not only to facilitate the reporting of alleged cases of abuse, but also \u201cto understand how to do justice to the victims, how to accompany them and their families and what provisions to make within the Movement regarding the authors of the abuses, in addition of course to the judicial procedures envisaged by the laws of the respective countries.\u201d Zero tolerance<\/strong> Maria Voce and Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n re-affirmed the Movement\u2019s zero tolerance approach to any form of violence, abuse, mistreatment or bullying, carried out directly on through the Web, towards any person, with particular attention to minors and vulnerable adults. They go on to explain that, \u201cThis means reporting to the local commissions and to the Central Commission every suspicion of abuse or violence.\u201d They consider it to be \u201ca real temptation if anyone thinks of not reporting cases for the good of the Movement, to avoid scandal or protect someone\u2019s good name.\u201d In particular they add that, \u201cEvery single case represents a deep purification for the Movement. We accept it with humility and deep compassion for those who \u2013 perhaps through our lack of attention \u2013 have undergone indescribable traumas.\u201d It is a worldwide commitment, not limited only to the members of the Focolare Movement and that, as Maria Voce and Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n observe in their conclusion to the letter, should be ever more open to the whole of humankind: \u201cWe cannot fail to make our own the cry of pain of all the children and teenagers in the world. \u2026 It is part of our vocation to go towards them. That is why we must be on the front line in defending those who are weaker, wherever they are victims of any kind of violence or abuse.\u201d Letter Maria Voce and Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n -Protection of Minors.EN<\/a>  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the first international meeting for those in the Movement responsible for the protection of minors, Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-president, Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n, have written to all the members of the Movement on the Focolare\u2019s commitment in this field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}