On 23 May, the Republikon Institute held its event "After the pardon scandal - what will happen to the Hungarian child protection??".
Gábor Horn, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Republikon Foundation, opened the panel discussion. He stresses that, exceptionally, this time before the elections, Republikon did not organise an event on "who to vote for", but on a very important issue: child protection. A problem that has been unsolved for many years and has disappeared from the mainstream of politics, so it is important to talk about it and how to make it better.
Péter Horgas, President of Civil Base, stresses that cooperation between legislators and NGOs is not productive. Furthermore, he raises the problem of whether, after the ineffective bills that will be passed, Hungarian society will see the damage that will be done. He also mentions that the way the government speaks about child protection, family and women's issues shows a thinking that is out of date.
According to Máté Kanász-Nagy, deputy leader of the LMP, it is important to know the details of the case in order to draw accurate conclusions. After all, there is still no solution, only bills that focus on different issues and therefore there is no solution to the general problem. It also drew attention to the fact that, unfortunately, the government is likely to raise wages by the way the various unions represent themselves and that there is less cohesion in the social sector.
Anna Orosz, a Momentum MP, said that politics and children are often too often separated, while the amount of money in schoolchildren's children's doctors' surgeries is a political issue that politicians decide. Also, more attention should be paid to the fact that politicians do not use their children/children for their own ends. Furthermore, he believes that the pardon scandal may have happened because the inner circles have built up their own toxic circle and belief in each other so much that they turn a blind eye to different decisions.
Tímea Szabó, executive co-chair of Párbeszéd-ZÖLDEK, said that the clemency scandal is a political scandal and child protection is a social crisis for which Viktor Orbán is responsible, as without him such decisions cannot be made. According to him, child protection reflects the social, mental and health crisis in the country, which stems from inequality. The biggest problem is that the new laws/legislative proposals focus on how to punish the perpetrators rather than on how to support child protection workers. In addition, he believes that the main problem with the clemency crisis has been that political interest often overrides the interests of children and that politicians who have been guilty in similar cases are being covered up.
After a short break, the expert panel discussion began.
Árpád Bárnai, the professional head and trainer of the Experience Academy, emphasises that it is right that the issue is being taken seriously, and believes that the result is not the law, but a reaction to the fact that society is now taking it seriously. So it is not really being taken seriously. He thinks it's important what exactly we mean by child protection and the direction in which the issue is going: one where we recognise how many people are around the child and that there is no guarantee that all of them are safe and what we can do about that, or one where we demonise. We have to start talking about what we can do to stop people abusing children, because it is never an unknown person who is the perpetrator, it is someone who is known and who is not basically assumed to be.
László Molnár, the former president of the Metropolitan Child Protection Centre and Regional Child Protection Service (Tegyesz), says that the bill lacks any professional, child protection content, he considers it part of the politics of spectacle. He explains that children's homes are incredibly closed, hierarchical systems. He also says that in children's homes it is important to maintain the reputation of the institution and that this can often override the obligation to report. He adds that it is therefore important that the children's guardian is an external person, not a staff member of the home. He believes that the obligation to report has worked well in his experience with doctors. Overall, he considers the bill to be inadequate.
Dávid Szél, counselling psychologist, explains that a bill only makes sense if it is backed by a package of measures. He explains that this proposal is not about children, they are left on their own with questions such as who to turn to when they are in trouble, what to do in such a situation. He says that the system is well established on paper (network of defenders, paediatricians, social workers, child protection, etc.) but in practice this apparatus does not work properly. He says that Hungarian society is very punishment oriented, it has to be seen that these people who are abusers need help, which they obviously do not get in prison. He adds that it is also difficult not to know what will happen after a possible indication.
According to sociologist Mária Herczog, the bill is a flawed construction, because it is a punitive proposal that neglects prevention and background research. He considers it a mistake that the training of teachers does not include how to recognise abuse. He also argues that parents should be made aware that they are not the enemy of their child's institution. He explains that the system itself is abusing children by not providing adequate support and preventive institutions. He adds that emotional and verbal abuse should also be highlighted in this context, as adults often do not perceive these as natural for them or even agree with them. He considers the bill unenforceable and believes that the legislation will not be taken seriously.
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