The Attorney General Office gave Jompéame seven days as of 24 March 2021 to remove publications that it says affect children and adolescents’ rights. It gave the non-profit seven days to comply with the order.
Olga Diná Llaverías, head of the National Agency for Children, Adolescents and Family at the Attorney General Office, signed the order compelling Jompéame to remove the content from its online platforms, and especially from its social networks. Diná Llaverías was motivated by a recent film on the tragedy of a pregnant minor. The film seeks to motivate donations for the child.
In a press release, the Attorney General Office department announced Katherine Motyka, representative of Jompéame, had been summoned to her office.
Diná Llaverías was accompanied by the prosecutors Shirley Aurich, from the National Agency for Children, Adolescents and Family; and Natiasky Marmolejos, from the Gender Violence Agency at the Attorney General Office. Omar Espinal, from the Department of Non-Profit Association (ASFL) of the National Council for Children and Adolescents (Conani) also participated in the meeting with Motyka.
As reported by the office of Diná Llaverías, Motyka visited the Attorney General’s Office accompanied by Jompéame legal counsel, Candy Espaillat. Both signed a document whereby “as of today, they cannot make any related publication, nor expose data, information and images that affect the privacy, image and integrity of children and adolescents.”
By the agreement, Jompéame also commits to comply with the seven-day deadline for the non-profit to remove all publications that expose children and teenagers from their digital platforms.
Diná Llavarías said that several Jompéame publications violate Law 136-03, which creates the Code for the System for the Protection and Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents, specifically in its articles 12 and 18 that protect the right to integrity and privacy, as well as Art. 26 that safeguards the image of children and adolescents.
Diná Llaverías said that other social media platforms must do the same.
Jompéame is a non-profit that carries out nationwide campaigns to collect funds to help worthy causes. Jompeame has collected RD$59 million in donations for 400 causes. It has channeled 27,309 donations.
Recently Jompéame was involved in an effort to collect funds for a 12-year-old who is seven months pregnant. The father of the child is unknown. The child says she was raped and threatened to not say who did it. The platform called attention to the plight of the child and asked for the authorities to intervene. The division of the Attorney General head by Diná Llaverías has not investigated the case nor who could have been the rapist.
Jompéame director Motyka later met with the director of the Children Agency (Conani), Paula Disla, to coordinate the efforts of her platform with those of Conani.
Motyka called the action “censorship.” She said the parents of the children had authorized the posting of the videos and posting to motivate donations. Jompéame is asking the measure that bans publishing the videos to apply to everyone.
Morning talk show journalist Altagracia Salazar reported a prosecutor colleague of Olga Diná Llaverías called for the prosecutor instead to investigate to find the rapist of the 12-year old in the donations-seeking video she is banning.
Furthermore, Salazar says that the law that bans posting videos on minors is regularly violated on a program on CDN (Channel 37) and on Channel 5, but that it appears Olga Diná is not aware of these programs.
The order against Jompéame created an uproar in social media in defense of the charity-seeking platform. Jompéame issued a press release in appreciation of the solidarity received. The Presidency also tweeted that from the government they appreciate the work of Jompéame.
Diná Llaverías is better known for her participation in the prosecution of the murder of Juniol Ramírez, in which key persons with evidence against them, such as Manuel Rivas, director of the OMSA bus company, were removed from the case. Ramírez was investigating corruption at the OMSA bus company.
26 March 2021
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Jompeame
25 March 2021