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In the past three years, more than one hundred children have died violently. In most cases, a loved one or close relative of the family is the aggressor. Infants between the ages of one and four are the most common victims. The murder of a girl in Zamora last week is the most recent event.

He arrived with the girl in his arms. He begged staff at one of Quito's health centers to save his life. The New Year was just beginning. He said then that the four-year-old had fallen. He, his father-in-law, is now paying 34.8 years in prison. The girl died from the beatings he gave her

In Cumbaratza, in Zamora province, in the south of the country, another four-year-old girl died last week from her father-in-law's hand . He and the biological father maintained conflict. The badailant, aged 22, asphyxiated the child and left his body in a jute bag on the banks of the Zamora River

. However, in Portoviejo, the horror of last summer has not yet been overcome. It was Thursday and the father went to pick up his kids from school earlier than usual. The adult, a nurse of his profession, injected anesthesia to the children. They died after three hours of agony. He tried to commit suicide …

The country has bottomed out. In the last three years, about 117 children have died violently and, in most cases, it is a close relative or close relative to the family who is causing it. The figure is however underestimated and La Hora gets it from press reports and official databases.

"In the country, infanticide is not prosecuted as such and children are also killed because of being children," says Sybel Martínez, representative of Rescate Escolar, a group of citizens fighting for the prevention of all types of violence against children and adolescents. "It is a sick society and this is not an exaggeration," says Martínez, while moving into reviews the statistics that his organization and other organizations also use on the basis of journalistic reports. "So far this year, we know about 40 cases." So, during a hearing at the Assembly, in June, it was requested to demand the cessation of aggression against children.

119
children under 14 years of age died with violence (including The Ministry of Inside, through the system of recording violent deaths for extreme cause e, identifies 21 cases: 13 in 2017 and 8 in 2018. 20 of them have occurred in situations of domestic violence and the highest number of murders is concentrated among girls and boys between one and four years of age. In the 2016 official reports on deaths of children under 14 years of violence (including suicides), 119 cases are reported

In the past two years, only in Pichincha, eight children are dead violently in the hands of adults. It is the registry of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Persons and Guarantees, headed by Darwin Jaramillo.

"The unfortunate common factor – says the prosecutor – is that all these cases occur in a context of domestic violence or violent situations, which occurred in the childhood of the perpetrators, who were not paid attention in a timely manner. "

21
Violent deaths of children registered by the Ministry of the Interior since 2017. Of the eight known cases of this unit, six deaths were committed by the mothers of the creatures. In what critical situation? Jaramillo explains that in four of these facts, there is a recurring line among people of the lower strata: the woman becomes pregnant with someone who is not her partner, gives birth at home and chokes the baby .

DNA testing is essential in these cases. And yet, Jaramillo remembers a painful experience: "A person thought to be pregnant with someone who was not his partner and killed the newborn," says the prosecutor. When the tests were done, the results proved the opposite. "

In this case, remembers Jaramillo, Justice declared the innocent woman after being detained for a year" because there was a reality that should be valued: her life C was marked by violence. As a child, she was raped and never received any help or therapy. This led to an image of depression. Then, when he had his delivery, he lost consciousness of his actions, according to psychological badessments. "

4,885
less than 14 years died in 2017, mostly because of illness. For Sybel Martínez, of Rescate Escolar, this is a "Social negligence" to count all these facts to do something, while the attention that the state and society must give to children and adolescents is a priority.It questions a society that still does not consider children as citizens subject to rights and a state that does not know how to act in the face of structural violence, so an act of violence multiplies with the pbadage of the generations.

Another case that the public prosecutor specializes in People and Guarantees goes in this direction.A mother killed her four-year-old son.What led you to this limit? Evaluations indicate psychiatric problems that have never been treated. In a letter that the woman wrote , she says she did not want the child to have a life of suffering like the one he had to live. Then he tried to commit suicide. "Now he is being treated and receiving attention," said Attorney Jaramillo. The unfortunate thing is that she is pregnant again. "

Martínez and Jaramillo agree that the answer to this escalation of violence is solidarity and social co-responsibility.Before receiving the news of the death of another child – says the member of Rescate Escolar – the community closest to someone who experiences violence must become a player in the prevention and guarantee of children's rights

According to Attorney Jaramillo, "we must start with those who are If public policies are sometimes far from our hands, I believe that we can change the stories of those who are with us.We can not be indifferent to social circles that multiply violence. "

In this line, for example, Plan International works. Catalina Vaca, an education consultant for the organization, says that in the country they work in 700 populations with community protection mechanisms. "Here groups organized in the communities themselves ensure the safety of children." (IFP)

PHRASES

A country that lets its children die shows us that this C & # 39; is a sick society. And it is socially negligent to count the number of deaths to do something. " Sybel Martínez Rescue School Group Any aggression committed against a child is aggravated, without consideration of mitigation or reduction of sentence.It is a clear relationship of power of an adult to a child. " Darwin Jaramillo, Director of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Persons
and Guarantees

The violence experienced by children is progressing alarmingly. We must break the social patterns that empower the adult and leave the child in a submission category. " Catalina Vaca Educational Advisor of Plan International

SEEK HELP

Office of the Ombudsman:
02 382 9 670

Office of the Attorney General of the State: [19659028] 1 800 34 72 25

Integrated System:
911 [19659029] Metropolitan Council for the Protection of Rights:
02 255 1995

Dinapen:
02 244 7070

International Plan:
02 244 4940

Special Protection Service, Ministry of Justice:
02 395 5840

International Children:
02 249 6551

Unicef:
02 393 4280