Dear Friends

We wish to invite you to join the campaign against child sexual abuse (in Spanish, Abuso Sexual Infantil or 'A.S.I.') and thus aptly named 'A.S.I. NO'.

Right now, our campaign strives to:

• Reach mainstream media coverage
• Reject the so-called 'Parental Alienation Syndrom', for lacking of scientific background
• Declare November 19th the 'Prevention of Child Abuse' National Day
• Watching the accomplishment of the United Nations Convention about Children's Rights and the 26061 Law in Argentina
• Sign this letter
• Use a white ribbon distinctive near our hearts in a form of manifestation against child sexual abuse

Children are neither ventriloquists nor puppets controlled by parents, psychologists, expert witnesses or other adult "manipulators".

This is what defense lawyers and their 'experts' would like you to believe when they advance the pseudo-theory of Parental Alienation Syndrome or 'PAS' to defend accused child abusers.

We refer to PAS as a 'pseudo-theory' because, unlike a clinically proven syndrome, it is void of any symptoms or objective characteristics to support a disease model. Not only does PAS fail to qualify as a 'syndrome,' it refers to a nonexistent mental disease—'Parental Alienation.'

PAS was invented in 1987 by Richard Gardner, an American who justified pedophilia as simply another sexual orientation. His theory made him rich. It has also helped harm sexually abused children around the world since its publication.

PAS is used by 'professionals', including psychologists, psychiatrists, lawyers and so-called 'experts', choosing to overlook the absence of credible scientific data to support the pseudo-theory. Nonetheless, their testimony is taken into account by judges and other finders of fact who are required to base their decisions on all evidence presented at trial. PAS testimony has proved extremely useful to the defense of child abusers. We were shocked to learn that the professional associations of Argentina have failed to publicly repudiate this pseudo-theory, which is devoid of scientific foundation and illustrates a disregard for established child psychology and psychiatry. Elsewhere, world-renown associations, including the APA (American Psychological Association) and the AMA (American Medical Association), have taken a public stance against PAS. In addition to this institutional silence, we must also overcome a societal reluctance (back lash) in Argentina to confront child sexual abuse when it rears its ugly head among society’s upper and middle classes.

Such is the recent case in Mar del Plata, in which a court acquitted a physical education teacher of charges, even though established clinical and theoretical sources would define the defendant as a sexual abuser. This case provides a frightening portent of future acquittals based on PAS, as other charged sex offenders will use the same or similar strategies to discredit the testimony of sexually abused children, the 'professionals' that assisted them in the giving of testimony and legitimate expert witnesses.

For the reasons noted above, we are warning people to not be deceived by so-called 'professionals' or 'experts' of dubious scientific qualifications.

Lic. Mónica L. Creus Ureta, MN 6789. Psicóloga, (U.B.A) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lic. Margarita Urano, DNI 6262509, Psicóloga, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lic. María Teresa Gutiérrez, en Educación, DNI 16443826, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Norma Beatriz Giuffre DNI 16.206.172 empresaria Buenos Aires Argentina
Francisco De Miguel Morales comerciante Valencia España
Romina Vázquez Ayala DNI 32.486.182 Estudiante de periodismo Bahía Blanca Argentina
Lic. Ester Nani, DNI 5726753, Psicóloga, Buenos Aires. Argentina
…et al.

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