"It's a scandal that even in 2022 we still don't have any reliable figures on the extent of sexualized violence against children and young people," Kerstin Claus, the new independent commissioner for child sexual abuse, criticized on Tuesday in Berlin.

She therefore wants to work to ensure that numbers are collected regularly and permanently and that the so-called dark field for secret abuse is clarified.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for “Bildungswelten”.

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"This is the only way we can tell whether politics is taking effect, whether the number of crimes is being reduced, crimes are being uncovered more quickly and children are better protected," said Claus, who herself worked for years on the Council for Affected Persons.

The new commissioner, who took office on April 1, recalled a similar request from the National Council against Sexual Violence Against Children and Young People and believes that a national research center of excellence is urgently needed.

However, the necessary commitments from politicians have so far been lacking.

"The federal government alone cannot advance child protection," said Claus.

She therefore wants to seek more dialogue with the federal states, municipalities and communities.

Specifically, it is about expanding counseling centers, child and youth welfare, investigative authorities and training facilities for social and educational professionals and ensuring that every institution, whether club, school or youth club, has and complies with its own protection concept.

Advisory councils for those affected in the federal states

Claus also considers the establishment of state advisory councils for those affected to be absolutely necessary, based on the model of the council for those affected by the independent representative in the federal government.

His office should be enshrined in law as soon as possible.

A legally regulated obligation to report to Parliament on the status of prevention, intervention and processing will make it possible to identify positive developments at federal and state level and to work towards improvements.

Claus referred to an awareness-raising campaign planned for this fall, which aims to increase everyone's sense of responsibility and observation in order to uncover sexual abuse.

However, the financing of the campaign has not yet been secured, said Claus.

"Only when we understand that sexual abuse can also take place in our immediate environment at any time will we begin to take a closer look and become active," said the officer, who also presented the results of a survey.

According to this, 90 percent of people in Germany think that abuse mainly takes place in their own families.

However, only eleven percent consider it likely that this is the case in their own family, while 33 percent consider it impossible.

Almost all respondents see sexual harassment on the Internet as a great or very great danger.

The polling institute Forsa had interviewed people for this last autumn.

Cases such as Staufen or Lügde, which are only representative of so many, have shown in recent years what it means when intervention is too late because child protection structures cannot be used effectively enough and information is not followed up consistently enough, he said Claus.

Everyone is responsible for protecting the approximately 14 million children and young people.

The state has a watchdog function that has been neglected far too often in the recent past.

It is urgently necessary to reduce the waiting times for psychotherapeutic treatment in children and adolescents, which were too long even before the corona pandemic.