Red PaPaz makes Te Guío available to families, school communities and the general public, a helpline that provides psychological guidance, through chat or call, to people under 18 who are concerned about their thoughts, feelings or behaviors sexual with respect to other girls, boys or adolescents. In this way, Te Guio is focused on strengthening the capacities for the prevention of sexual violence against girls, boys and adolescents, one of the most demeaning and cruel forms of violation of the rights of minors under 18 years of age.
It is estimated that, globally, 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be victims of sexual abuse before their 18th birthday (Association Unevie, 2020). In the Colombian case, during 2022 as of November, 19,570 legal medical examinations were carried out for alleged sexual offenses against minors, which represents an increase of 20% compared to the cases registered in the same period of time for the year 2021. Of these exams, about 90% were performed on girls and adolescent women (Legal Medicine, 2022).
One of the most worrying aspects of this situation is that many of these episodes are committed by minors. The main studies in this regard indicate that between a quarter and a third of the attacks against people under 18 years of age are committed by other girls, boys and adolescents (Association Unevie, 2020; Hackett, 2014; Letourneau, et al., 2017). These cases are examples of harmful sexual behaviors by this population. In addition to these forms of violence, sexual behaviors outside the developmental stage of the minor who commits them are also classified as harmful sexual behaviors, are abnormal in terms of frequency or place in which they occur and cause harm to the person who commits it. or to others. Within this type of situation are problematic consumption of pornography, sharing sexualized images of other people under 18 years of age, touching minors under 14 years of age, sexual interactions without consent with persons over this age, among others.
Given this worrying situation, Red PaPaz launches Te Guio, one of the components of the Viguías Safe Internet Center, inspired by similar initiatives in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, and which in Colombia is supported by national and international experts in the study and prevention of harmful sexual behaviors. Te Guío offers two services: on the one hand, information and guidance to the general public on this type of behavior in minors, where the public can clarify doubts about situations such as sexting, sextortion, cyberbullying, what to do when a minors are asked to send intimate photos or when they have already been shared without their consent. On the other hand, the guides will provide teleorientation to adolescents who manifest these behaviors.
So far, the hotline has received contacts, both from adults concerned about the behavior of a minor in their environment, and from adolescents who are concerned about their thoughts regarding other girls and boys.
For Carolina Piñeros Ospina, executive director of Red PaPaz, “the launch of the Te Guío helpline is excellent news for children and adolescents, their families and educators, given that, although it is a common situation, it is an issue which is not talked about and, therefore, effective help is not provided. Not only minors can contact us through the different channels available, but also their parents and teachers. The evidence shows that one of the most effective forms of prevention is to act promptly in these cases”.
For this, Te Guío has several service channels:
-Chat on the website www.teguiocolombia.org
-Direct message through Facebook (www.facebook.com/teguio.viguias), Instagram (www.instagram.com/teguio.viguias/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TeGuio_Viguias)
WhatsApp at 3148210435 or phone call at 018005190690.
