Sexual violence against children is not just a matter of reporting and sentencing, but also of what happens after the child speaks up.

Sexual violence against children is not just a matter of reporting and sentencing, but also of what happens to the child after he or she speaks up, said lawyer Snežana Mićanović Nikčević and writer and feminist Minja Marđonović in Boje jutra on Vijesti Television.

Marđonović said that after her public speech about sexual violence, many people have contacted her via social media with their experiences. She herself, she said, experienced an attempt at sexual violence when she was 12 or 13 years old.

"I managed to escape and luckily I don't have that experience, but I do have the experience of coping and that escape had a big impact on me. I just remember it," she said.

Because of this, he says, he especially understands how important it is for children to know who they can turn to.

"I fear that almost every second or third child has experienced some form of sexual abuse and violence. These are alarming figures," said Marđonović, emphasizing that education is one of the key methods of prevention.

Lawyer Mićanović Nikčević warned that reporting violence in itself does not mean that the child is protected.

"The fact that the report will be processed absolutely does not mean that we have completed the procedure and that we have protected the child in this way. What happens after that is much more important," she said.

Protection is particularly challenging when the perpetrator is a family member or close person, because the child may find themselves in their environment again after the procedure.

"It is very difficult to provide real protection for the child because even after that procedure and after the possible sentence served, that child will come back to that family, will come back into direct or indirect contact with that person who committed sexual violence," said the lawyer.

According to data from the Police Directorate, 47 criminal acts of illicit sexual acts were recorded in Montenegro in two and a half years, and 27 minors were among the victims.

Mićanović Nikčević warns that the actual number could be significantly higher.

"Because of that dark number, we can never be 100 percent sure how many of these crimes were actually committed against children. I fear that the number is much higher than the statistics show," she said.

However, Marđonović believes, responsibility should not be shifted to children.

"If the system does not react, if the law does not function, if institutions do not do their job, we have no space for our intimate, personal freedom to say and share something," she said.

It is especially problematic, he says, when violence occurs in an environment where a child should be safe – family or school.

"So much talk about birth control policies, so much investment in women's right to their own bodies, so much moral polemic about whether abortion is a sin or not, and we don't actually care about our children. They are somewhere at the root of our understanding of love. If we don't love children, we don't love people, because those little people, in fact, the world rests on them. I want to support parents and listen to their children, ask them what hurts in their soul and body, and create that one relationship of trust, because as my mother taught me, there is no such thing as the worst truth that can be worse than a lie, so tell your mother, tell your father everything and create that circle of trust, because where there is trust, there is also protection, there is also love, and only love can eventually put this suffering, bloodthirsty world back on the right path," adds Marđonović.

Montenegro, through amendments to the Law on Social and Child Protection, has envisaged the formation of a Barnahus, or children's house, which would bring together services that act upon reports of violence in one place.

Mićanović Nikčević believes that this is an important step, but warns that the law is not enough without the people who will implement it.

"We can have the best laws in the world. If we don't have professionals who will adequately implement them, it's all for naught. The law then remains a dead letter on paper. We must not expect or allow our children to be stronger than institutions," the lawyer concludes.