Launching of a pan-European campaign to stop sexual violence against children

The Council of Europe has amongst its major focuses the eradication of all forms of violence against children. Sexual violence is one of the worst forms of violence and it also remains among the most unreported forms of violence as, in the majority of cases, children are violated by someone in their immediate family or social circle. In most European societies, this is a taboo issue compounded by a culture of silence and denial.

The Council of Europe has therefore decided to launch a pan-European campaign to stop sexual violence against children. This campaign has two major aims:

to support the signature, ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse; and

to raise public awareness on the extent of sexual violence within the child's circle of trust, how to empower children to break the silence and to find the ways to prevent and report sexual abuse of children.

The Campaign will be launched in Rome, Italy, on 29-30 November 2010. The event will be hosted by the Italian Ministry for Equal Opportunities.

The official launching of this campaign to a broad public in Italy and throughout Europe will take place on 29-30 November in the form of a high level event with extensive media coverage and a significant participation of authorities and experts from Council of Europe's Member States.

To promote the campaign's key messages, the Council of Europe will present at this event:

an information pack including child-and family-friendly leaflets, brochures, posters, postcards, etc.;

a media pack, containing a TV spot and campaign material; and

a dedicated website for the campaign.

The draft programme of the event is currently being prepared and should be available during the month of September.

For more information on this campaign, please read the Campaign outline and the Conclusions of the expert meeting organised in Strasbourg in December 2009 which helped define the principle lines of the campaign.