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Preparation of the Council of Europe Campaign to stop Sexual Violence against Children 2010: Consultation with Partners on the prevention of sexual abuse of children Strasbourg, 10-11 December 2009 The Council of Europe children’s strategy for 2009-2011, ‘Provision, Protection and Participation for Children in Europe’, has amongst its major focuses that of eradicating all forms of violence against children. In particular, it calls upon the organisation to launch comprehensive awareness-raising actions to prevent and combat sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. In response to this mandate, the Council of Europe shall in October 2010, launch a Europe-wide Campaign to stop Sexual Violence against children. This call for expression of interest is addressed to experts wishing to participate in a meeting, 10-11 December in Strasbourg to prepare a specific aspect of the forthcoming campaign: the prevention of child sexual abuse within the family and community. Campaign objectives The campaign will have two key complimentary objectives: To promote the ratification of the Council of Europe’s primary legal instrument in this area; the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse1 (Lanzarote Convention), as well as the Cybercrime Convention and the Convention on Human Trafficking; To promote the full implementation of the Lanzarote Convention, through the creation of tools and materials which can be used by state parties to address some of the Convention’s particularly innovative yet challenging provisions. What will the Campaign focus on? The Lanzarote Convention addresses the various forms of sexual violence; child pornography, child prostitution, online grooming, child sex tourism and child sexual abuse. Efforts to promote ratification of the instrument will therefore deal with all of these issues through the holding of national and regional seminars and conferences aimed at specific target groups including the legal profession, parliamentarians, law enforcement agencies, the private sector etc. Given that all forms of sexual violence are closely related, actions aiming to facilitate state implementation of the provisions of the Convention will also address all of these forms of sexual violence. Special attention will be given to the prevention of child sexual abuse taking place within the family or community setting. This decision is informed by current data which shows that children are most likely to to be abused by those closest to them – a family member, friends or someone living close by.2 Such a focus shall help also avoid duplication with the valuable work already being undertaken by other international and non-governmental organisations in the field of sexual exploitation. What kind of actions will be undertaken? The campaign will reflect the many innovative features of the Lanzarote Convention, particularly related to prevention. It shall promote and be informed by child participation. It will look closely at the processes of recruitment and, in particular, the training of those professionals in regular contact with children. It will promote education on sexual violence and the dissemination of information on child protection services, to enable children to contribute to their own protection. It will look at examples of early intervention for potential offenders (especially minors) Finally, it will seek to raise awareness amongst the general public, including parents on sexual violence. Given the complexity and sensitivity of this subject, the Council of Europe is looking to build partnerships with actors having expertise in this area; professional networks, international and national NGO’s, centres of research, relevent public bodies and agencies, communication agencies, the media and other private sector actors . After evaluating the various expressions of interest, selected actors will be invited to a preparatory meeting on the Sexual Violence Campaign - Consultation with Partners on the prevention of Sexual Abuse of children in Strasbourg 10-11 December 2009. Please note that the Council of Europe has a limited budget available for this event and will only cover expenses of a limited number of experts selected from this process. In order to bring your expertise in this area to our attention, organisers ask you to fill out the form above and to return it to [email protected] no later than 13 November 2009.
Background
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