 | | CARE AND PROTECTION
"I will decide what will happen in the future"
Anna (not her real name) was the victim of sexual abuse between the age of 12 and 13. For several years now, she has lived with her brothers and sisters at a small state home in Hungary, cared for by professional staff.
Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments have a duty to protect children from abuse of any kind.
Article 19 says governments, "... shall take all appropriate... measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse... including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s)..."
Separated from her stepfather, Anna feels protected now and is thinking about a career as a gardener.
In her report, she prefers to talk about overcoming trauma in a protected and loving environment rather than the abuse she endured. This is her story: | |  Listen to Anna's story in Hungarian | | 
My mother and my stepfather couldn't really get along. He was an alcoholic and he terrorised the family, especially my mother. She couldn't stand this for long and she suddenly disappeared.
She couldn't take us with her because she was not sure where she was going and it would have been very risky to take five children with her.
This happened three years ago.
I was disappointed. It hurt and I cried a lot. I thought about her, I couldn't forget it, that's a fact, but I hid it within myself.
We stayed with my stepfather, who is the real father of my four half sisters and brothers.
At the beginning I didn't talk about the abuse. Once I told my mother and we were taken to temporary child care. Then my mother and stepfather made up, and we went home again, but I think an aquaintance reported the abuse to the police.
When my mother left, the head of the school where I was studying and the head of the nursery helped us and got us temporary child care again.
For me, it was something someone else was doing for me, and at first I didn't want it, but I didn't object to it very strongly either. When I think about it now, it was definitely the right thing to have done, but, at first, I just couldn't accept when the headteacher told us to get into the blue car to be taken away.
Once in care, I started to understand that I could really get rid of my stepfather; we really had moved away from him.
Finally I think I was happy, yes I was.
I was thinking about the whole thing a lot, I was racking my brains as to why this happened, why this was possible. Then, suddenly, I understood. I calmed down and that's it.
At the moment there are nine of us in the home, plus the carers. We live like a family where all of us are brothers and sisters and we share family love.
The four carers have daily shifts, but everybody has a so-called mother.
During the week, we go to school or nursery, depending on our age. We come home in the afternoon, and we study while the younger ones play and draw. After watching a bit of TV, we help cook supper or clean the rooms. There's a task rota in the kitchen, which tells everyone what they've got to do.
I have a peaceful life here. I live surrounded by love. I'm together with my sisters and brothers. I have lived through a lot of things, but I got through them.
When I'm very sad I turn on the radio and try to calm down. I have complete trust in the carers. We - me and the others, everybody - get endless amounts of love.
I'm a trusting person, I make friends easily with children and adults alike. I trust people as long as they don't hurt me. I can forgive as well, but that's a bit more difficult.
I adapt well to students and to teachers in school. In the class, I have my friends and enemies too. I go to an agricultural secondary school. When I grow up, I'm going to be an ornamental plant gardener and a florist... I hope!
Most of all I want a happy family where everybody has what they want, where everybody loves each other and everybody can feel love. And it would be a whole family - a mum, a dad and children together - happiness.
I direct my own life now and not my past - whatever happened in the past - I will decide what will happen in the future.  | | | Listen to Anna's story in Hungarian | | |  |  |
 Child abuse, in particular sexual abuse within the family, is a major unrecognised problem. It impairs the health of children and has long-lasting physical and emotional effects on its victims.
Cases are often not reported therefore official government statistics are unlikely to reflect the true magnitude of the problem.
According to a US Department of State report on Human Rights Practices in Hungary in 1998, "the national police reported 598 cases of violence against children and 58 rapes in 1997, and 340 cases of violence and 25 rapes for the first 6 months of 1998."
In June 2001, The British Council Hungary supported a training programme on the prevention of and response to child abuse in the area of Balatonaliga, a small town on the shores of Lake Balaton, Hungary.
It examined the nature, form and effects of child abuse; how multiple agencies approach the problem; and the needs of child victims and witnesses in legal proceedings.
Using the British model as the basis of training, the programme looked at ways in which some practices could be implemented in Hungary.
|  |  |  |  | |
