More than 1000 children get together to bring awareness against child abuse

More than a thousand children came together this Friday at Praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, to create a “giant blue bow”. The idea was to bring awareness against child abuse. Mayor Carlos Moedas was present at the ceremony.

“I will be what you give me… let it be love. More than a thousand children joined in the construction of a giant blue bow raising awareness in the society of the need to prevent child abuse”, the municipality highlighted it on social networks.

Centenas de crianças participam na iniciativa “Laço Azul Humano”, símbolo do Mês da Prevenção dos Maus-Tratos na Infância, 28 abril 2023, na praça do Comércio , em Lisboa. MANUEL DE ALMEIDA/LUSA

International Child Abuse Prevention Month was celebrated for the first time with a blue bow in 1989, after Bonnie W. Finney, a resident in the state of Virginia, tied a blue ribbon to her car antenna in honor of her grandson, who died as a result of abuse.

In Portugal, according to the president of the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Young People (CNPDPCJ), eve-ry year, the Commissions for the Protection of Children and Young People (CPCJ) monitor around 70 thousand children and receive more than 40 thousand danger communications, in which the most frequent abuses have to do with negligence.