In the context of this year’s edition of the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse focused on "Learning from victims/survivors of childhood sexual violence to inspire policy change", the Council of Europe hosted a “stakeholder debate” on combatting sexual violence against children on 20 October 2023.

The debate was organised collectively by the association Mouv’Enfants along with survivors and victims living in the Bas-Rhin. 

The debate brought together local specialists including lawyers, social workers, police officers, early childhood and child protection professionals, victims and survivors, and the City of Strasbourg.

This form of inclusive debate encourages equal participation among those who attend, without the traditional distinction between experts and the audience.  The morning was dedicated to testimonies and the identification of challenges faced in the fight against sexual violence against children, as acknowledged by the participants. The afternoon focused on three themes: prevention, protection and reparation; in order to identify recommendations and priority actions for implementation.

Key conclusions:

Various recommendations were made under the three themes “Prevention - Protection – Reparation”. These included the need to set up Barnahus (Children's House) or similar structures bringing together all relevant services under one roof to coordinate parallel criminal and child welfare investigations in a child-friendly and safe environment, thus avoiding re-traumatisation. The participants also recognised the need to systematically assign a lawyer to each child who has testified about sexual violence at all stages of the legal proceedings. Finally, psychosocial support for direct and indirect victims was recognised as essential, and as something that should go beyond legal proceedings.

Next steps:

The Council of Europe is developing guidelines for policy makers on victim/survivor engagement. On 30 November 2023, the Lanzarote Committee will hold a Panel discussion on victim/survivor engagement in policy making to identify lessons learned and promising practices. The draft guidelines will be presented to the Committee during the panel and finalised by the end of the year.