Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

G7 Governments failing to take action to end childhood sexual violence, new data reveals

Posted on Jun 27, 2022

ECPAT International endorses the Brave Movement Press Release of June 24 – 2022

  • A new report ranking G7 nations on their efforts to protect children from abuse shows that global leaders are failing – with progress woefully inadequate to end childhood sexual violence
  • The U.S.A, France, Japan and Italy are the worst performers, having made very limited progress to end sexual violence against children based on key indicators developed by survivors 
  • The report from the Brave Movement is the first ever comparative assessment of G7 policies to tackle the humanitarian crisis of childhood sexual violence – as survivors call on G7 leaders to table this issue at their Summit this weekend 

 

June 27, 2022 – On 24 June 2022, the Brave Movement global advocacy group delivered a scathing assessment of global leaders’ lack of progress to end sexual violence against children. 

In an emergency press conference ahead of the G7 Summit being held June 26-28, survivors and allies will release the details of the Ending Childhood Sexual Violence: #BeBrave G7 Scorecard analyzing the commitment of G7 nations to tackle child sexual violence, with damning results for France, Italy, Japan and the U.S.A. in particular. The newly released data proves that there is an appalling lack of progress by all G7 countries when it comes to ending childhood sexual violence in their own countries and across the world. 

Key findings:

  • G7 governments’ efforts are woefully inadequate to end childhood sexual violence, both domestically and globally
  • The UK is the only G7 country to have made a meaningful investment in the End Violence Fund to tackle childhood sexual violence
  • Canada has made the largest ODA investment to tackle childhood sexual violence out of all G7 countries but data shows that Official Development Assistance to end childhood violence decreased between 2018 and 2020 in real terms
  • No G7 country has adequate protections in place to create a safe internet free of all online forms of sexual violence
  • The Government of Germany is the only country that has successfully established a National Survivors Council
  • No country has a comprehensive National Action Plan to address childhood sexual violence which adequately addresses prevention, healing, and justice

Wibke Müller, SAGE member and Co-Chair of the Brave Movement G7 Taskforce with Co-Chair, Matthias Katsch, said: Without sufficient funding, prevention, healing and justice policies and programs are small-scale, non-existent,  or failing to reach the populations in urgent need of action and services. The Brave Movement envisions a world in which children and adolescents grow up free from the threat of sexual violence. Bold, decisive action and investment is urgently needed to make this a reality now.”

Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair, PMNCH, said: “Childhood sexual violence is a global scourge, affecting at least one in ten girls globally. It undermines other investments in child health, education, gender equality, SRHR, and sustainable development. The “triple C” threat of COVID-19, climate change, and the rising number of conflicts around the world puts children, adolescents and women everywhere at high risk. Tracking and reporting progress, as the Brave Movement is doing, is essential for giving a voice to survivors, and ending all sexual violence moving forward.”

The Brave Movement is putting pressure on leaders by catalyzing action around the world in the run-up to the G7, targeting landmarks with commemorative ‘#BeBrave Purple Plaques’ which highlight atrocities against children perpetrated by institutions within G7 nations and beyond.

Following the emergency press conference, survivors and allies will unveil a plaque honouring survivors of clergy abuse in Germany at the ‘Peterskirche’ (St Peter’s Church) in Munich. St Peter’s Church is the oldest recorded Roman Catholic parish church in Munich and the plaque will send a signal to leaders and institutions that survivors will not allow them to hide in plain sight any longer. 

The church is one of the landmarks of the Bavarian capital Munich. At least 497 children and adolescents were abused in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising over a period of almost 74 years (from 1945 to 2019). Most of them were young; 247 are male victims and 182 are female. Sixty percent of the survivors were between the ages of 8-14, abused by 235 perpetrators of abuse including 173 priests and nine deacons.

The German leadership has expressed its commitment to tackling childhood sexual violence and adding it to the G7 Summit agenda. As recently as June 2, Dr. Markus Richter, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Government of Germany said, “the German Government is putting this topic on the top of the list of its Presidency of the G7.” 

Now, the Brave Movement is calling for tangible, bold and transformative action which goes beyond commitments. At the G7 Summit, the Brave Movement survivors and allies will deliver a petition signed by more than 70 thousand survivors and allies, asking G7 leaders to: 

  • Support the Brave Movement’s call for a global pledging event on November 18 2022 and commit to an initial investment of at least US$1 billion per year for the established Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children 
  • Legislate to create a safe internet where children and adolescents are free from sexual violence
  • Create a G7 Survivors Council to advise G7 governments on actions that they take to permanently end sexual violence against children.

G7 nation survivor statements:

Rosalia Rivera, is a Canadian survivor, consent educator and abuse prevention specialist, sexual literacy advocate and member of the Brave Movement:The lifelong effects of child sexual abuse, like mental health crises, addiction, suicide, and chronic illnesses, create a world where individuals struggle to be thriving productive members of their communities. The economic impact of these long-term consequences is costing the world trillions of dollars in loss of, not only productivity but the overall quality of life. I hope that the leaders of the G7 can understand why investing in the solutions that the Brave Movement proposes, must be prioritized, now more than ever, as we face the biggest child sexual abuse epidemic in history.”

 

Ending Childhood Sexual Violence: #BeBrave G7 Scorecard

The 2022 Ending Childhood Sexual Violence: #BeBrave G7 Scorecard assesses each G7 country on how they are responding to childhood sexual violence at home and across the world. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are evaluated and ranked according to their progress on a strategic set of policy indicators necessary to moving forward action on ending this abhorrent global crisis. 

  • The indicators have been developed and informed by survivor advocates at the heart of the Brave Movement, who co-created demands such as the G7 Call to Action and the #BeBrave Global Call to Action. 
  • The Scorecard uses newly released data from the forthcoming 2022 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Out of the Shadows Index and the preliminary data from the forthcoming 2022 Counting Pennies 3 report developed by World Vision International and partners. These full reports will be released later in 2022. 
  • See the full Ending Childhood Sexual Violence: #BeBrave G7 Scorecard.

The Brave Movement G7 Survivor’s Camp: 

The Brave Movement will be present at the G7 Summit at its first “Survivors Camp” in Munich, Germany.

For more information, contact: brave@eckiger-tisch.de 

 

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