Specific legal obligations for civilians to report cases of child abuse, neglect and violence

In integrated child protection systems, the emphasis should be on primary prevention and the development of generic services for children and families. The identification, reporting and referral procedures of children in need of protection are therefore also of importance for civilians.

Specific legal obligations for civilians to report cases of child abuse, neglect and violence (this map should be read together with the map on provisions on professionals' legal obligation to report cases)

Note:
For the United Kingdom, specific provisions assigning reporting obligations to civilians exist in Northern Ireland.

Source: FRA, 2014

	Yes, there are specific provisions assigning reporting obligations to civilians
	No, there are no specific provisions assigning legal obligation of reporting to civilians

Key findings

More than half of the EU Member States have specific reporting obligations addressing civilians.

In 15 EU Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden), there are provisions setting forth specific obligations for civilians to report cases of child abuse, neglect and/or exploitation, falling under the scope of national child protection systems.

In many Member States without specific provisions, general provisions on the obligation for all citizens to report a criminal act under national law apply. In such cases, however, there is no particular obligation to report a child at risk or presumed cases of abuse.