On 5 March, UIC Barcelona hosted an event entitled “Protecting Children and Adolescents from Violence: Creating Safe Environments through Prevention and Regulatory Compliance”, an initiative which highlighted the need to move beyond formal protocols and advance the real and effective implementation of protection systems.
The conference, held in the Saló de Graus on the Barcelona Campus, was organised by Compliance Educativo, Fortuny Legal and BCN Resuelve, in cooperation with the Postgraduate Degree in Compliance and Cybersecurity and the Institute for Advanced Family Studies at UIC Barcelona, and featured Dr Alejandra Vargas, a lecturer in Criminal Law and coordinator of the postgraduate programme.
The event aligns with the University’s strategic commitment to offering applied legal education, closely connected to current social and regulatory challenges and aimed at fostering knowledge transfer between the University and different professional sectors.
"This conference was created with a very clear idea: that protecting our children is a social and institutional challenge that is as urgent as it is essential, and that we are facing a real, growing and heartbreaking problem that cannot be addressed solely through reactive responses,” Vargas explained during her speech.
The importance of prevention
In this regard, several experts who took part in the discussion agreed that, while protocols are essential, they are only effective when accompanied by prior prevention, training and awareness-raising efforts. They also stressed the need to actively listen to children and include them when defining protection measures, as well as to strengthen coordination across the various services involved.
"At UIC Barcelona’s Postgraduate Degree in Compliance and Cybersecurity, we approach compliance in exactly this way: as a strategic tool to anticipate risks, establish clear protocols, strengthen reporting channels, educate teams and, most importantly, ensure that the organisation’s values translate into concrete practices. And that is exactly the sentiment we convey to our students,” Vargas added.
During the morning, key issues were addressed, including building safe environments through governance and institutional culture, the effective implementation of prevention, detection and response protocols and the importance of regulatory standards and continuing education in engaging the entire educational, sports and recreational community. The impact of violence on children and adolescents was also analysed, along with the need to act diligently by defining roles and implementing protection measures appropriate to each situation.
Resounding success
Conference participants included representatives from leading organisations and institutions such as Futbol Club Barcelona, UOC, Mossos d'Esquadra, the Ombudsman’s Office, Educo, Vedruna Schools, the Spanish Association for Standardisation and PDA Bullying, who shared experiences and best practices from a realistic and applied perspective.
The event proved a resounding success: its strong turnout – with nearly one hundred attendees – led to registration closing earlier than expected, confirming the burgeoning interest in specialised compliance training focused on child protection.
Through initiatives like this, UIC Barcelona and its Postgraduate Degree in Compliance and Cybersecurity strengthen their commitment to excellent and transformative education, enabling students to build careers that contribute meaningfully to society.
