Reinforce the LOPIVI: when protecting childhood is a collective obligation

On May 5, 2026, the Council of Ministers approved in the first round the proposal to reform the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents against Violence (LOPIVI), promoted by the Ministry of Youth and Childhood. It is not a minor procedure. Nor is it just any reform. It is an opportunity to consolidate a path that Spain began in 2021 and which today remains an international benchmark: violence against children must now be understood as a public, visible, and preventable issue.

The LOPIVI then represented a historic milestone by recognizing, for the first time comprehensively, all forms of violence against children and adolescents, and by articulating a coherent system of prevention, detection, and response. The reform now proposed does not question that spirit; on the contrary, it reinforces it. It starts from a clear premise: protecting children is not a rhetorical gesture, but a legal, political, and ethical obligation.

One of the most relevant advances is the reinforcement of guarantees in judicial proceedings. The expansion of the right to free legal assistance to a greater number of offenses against minors and the creation of a specialized public defender's office in violence against children represent decisive steps to improve access to justice. Those who work with child victims know it well: judicial processes are long, complex, and often deeply disorienting for the victims themselves. Without specialized support, the system not only fails to repair, but re-inflicts harm.

However, the reform still leaves a pending issue of enormous significance: the extension of the pre-constituted evidence to 18 years of age. Keeping it limited to minors under 14 years of age and to people with disabilities implies ignoring an unquestionable reality: adolescence continues to be a stage of special vulnerability. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear in this regard: a child is any human being under 18 years of age. Excluding thousands of adolescents means, in practice, exposing them to re-victimizing processes that could be avoided.

But the reform is not limited to the judicial sphere. Another of its fundamental pillars is the advance towards a model focused on comprehensive reparation. Expressly recognizing the right to physical, psychological, and social reparation for victims is an essential step. Added to this is the administrative accreditation of victim status through social and health services, a measure that can make a difference in real access to rights and resources, especially when the judicial route is not reached or is delayed.

Along the same lines, the recognition of the right to be forgotten online responds to one of the most invisible and persistent forms of current violence. In an environment where the digital footprint can perpetuate harm for years, protecting the right of children to rebuild their lives without stigma is not a luxury, but a matter of dignity.

Of special relevance is also the flexibilization of access to therapeutic care, allowing the consent of a single parent. This measure, apparently technical, is crucial in contexts of domestic violence or high conflict. When protection depends on impossible consensus, the system fails. And when it fails, those who pay the price are always the same.

The reform takes an important step by strengthening the principle of the best interests of the child and by effectively incorporating the so-called “childhood perspective”. For years, both concepts have been invoked more symbolically than in reality, despite the fact that criteria and guidelines have been developed for their application. These recommendations inspire the concrete interpretative criteria of the new text, which oblige all administrations to take them seriously. In that same logic, the right to be heard is universalized: references to age or supposed maturity as barriers disappear, and minimum guarantees are established so that the hearing takes place in safe environments, with accessible and understandable language.

This change is not minor. It means reinforcing the recognition that all boys and girls, regardless of their age and maturity, have something to say about what affects them. And that listening to them is not a concession or an act of goodwill, but a legal obligation.

Violence against children challenges us as a society. Today we have clear diagnoses, accumulated evidence, and a good law that can be strengthened to continue advancing in the fulfillment of children's rights and to protect those who have the least capacity to defend themselves.