Sexual violence against children and adolescents: resilience and protagonism in Amazon

Abstract

International literature on the topic sexual abuse has focused more attention on the negative developmental impacts of abusive experiences, and children and adolescents involved are often perceived as passive victims. Fewer investigations have sought to identify the protective factors that can promote resilience among younger people and, in particular, the contribution they can make to their identification and use. This study aims at presenting the experience of the Projeto Içá-Ação e Proteção (Içá-Action and Protection Project) (Caritas) and Aleimar Onlus, in the prevention of sexual violence against children and adolescents in the Brazilian Amazon, identifying resilience factors in actions protagonized by the adolescents. This study is preliminary report of the activities of this experimental project carried out by 1,434 adolescents who participated in a community intervention project in 19 cities of the states of Amazonas and Pará from 2016 to 2018. In line with the Youth Protagonism Axis of the National Plan for the Fight against Sexual Violence of Children and Adolescents - adopted by Brazil, the adolescents developed actions in schools, religious spaces, communities (indigenous, traditional and urban), City councils and Forums of participation and political decision. The preliminary analysis of this project showed that resilience is not synonymous of invulnerability and its promotion is imperative for healthier development during childhood and adolescence, in particular when sexual abuse occurs. The results also indicated that children and adolescents, more than passive subjects of any action or program, must be assumed as agents of their own rights’, decision, autonomy and participatory and transformative advocacy in facing sexual abuse and exploitation.

Keywords

• abuso sexual
• resiliência
• protagonismo
• amazônia