The director of the Ararteko's Office for Children and Adolescents, Elena Ayarza, has highlighted the importance of incorporating the figure of a Child Protection Delegate into the Youth Law. Furthermore, she considers it essential to deepen the training of leisure monitors and establish new protocols to prevent the recurrence of situations similar to those that occurred at the Bernedo summer camp. These events have led to around twenty complaints for alleged crimes against the sexual freedom of minors.
Ayarza inaugurated the expert appearances to provide input during the parliamentary debate to modify the Youth Law. This initiative was promoted by the PNV and PSE parties with the aim of tightening supervision over children's and youth camps. The procedure is being processed urgently after EH Bildu prevented the approval of the changes in a single reading, an even faster method, arguing that it sought to «steal» the debate. The idea is for the modifications to be ready before summer, when most camps are held.
“"We do not forget what happened. Perhaps what it did was to focus on a situation where elements to be improved were detected."
The Ararteko's office maintains that the 'Bernedo case' allowed them to «confirm» that Euskadi has «obsolete» regulations for governing camps and that the institutions' «capacity» in terms of personnel to control camp activities was «limited». The figure of the Child Protection Delegate is already included in the Childhood Law, but not in the Youth Law. In any case, the Ombudsman's request to include it in the regulations aligns with the position of the Basque Government. The Department of Welfare, Youth, and Demographic Challenge has drafted a decree that, once it comes into force, will require all associations organizing udalekus to have a professional with this qualification. This delegate will be responsible for ensuring that children's rights are not violated.
The regional Executive is moving forward with the approval of the decree as an alternative to the possibility that the parliamentary debate to modify the Youth Law could extend beyond the summer. The new regulation will also increase the number of monitors required to have minimum qualifications from 40% to 80%, and the minimum necessary ratio of these caregivers will be raised. Additionally, educators will need to renew a criminal record certificate annually to prove they are not involved in any cases of sexual abuse or serious crimes.
Beyond the figure of the Child Protection Delegate, the Ararteko deems it necessary to adopt further measures to ensure that camps are «safe spaces free from violence» against minors. One is to «update» the regulations governing camps, which the Government is doing; others include «reviewing» the content of training courses for monitors and camp directors; establishing new prevention and action protocols for cases of violence against children; and providing institutions with sufficient human resources to effectively control camp activities. The regional Executive has already announced that it will appoint several inspectors to detect clandestine camps.
