Let’s #BeBrave and Continue the Momentum – Sign and Share the Petition!

Huge G7 Win in the Fight to End Childhood Sexual Abuse – Let’s #BeBrave and Continue the Momentum – Sign and Share the Petition!

We are nine survivors of childhood sexual violence from the Brave Movement from G7 countries and around the world.

We are asking you to join us, to break the silence around childhood sexual violence and demand bold action from governments all over the world.

This year, for the first time ever, G7 leaders collectively committed to stepping up our fight against trafficking in human beings and our efforts to prevent and combat child sexual abuse and exploitation globally, both online and offline. They have asked Interior Ministers to take forward the implementation of the Action Plan to combat Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse when they meet this Autumn.

This is a historic first step to creating a world where children grow up free from sexual violence. But words alone are not enough…

Now, we are urgently calling on the Leaders and Interior Ministers of the world’s richest countries to turn these words into bold and transformative action – to set an example to the rest of the world and to ensure that what happened to us never happens to another child, anywhere.

There are evidence-based, proven solutions. We demand:

• Legislation to create a safer internet where children and adolescents are free from sexual violence;

• A global pledging event on November 18, 2022, and an initial investment of at least US$1 billion per year for the established End Violence Fund, to scale programs of prevention, healing, and justice;

• Creation of the G7 Survivors Council to advise governments on actions that they take to permanently end sexual violence against children and adolescents.

Please join us as survivors and our allies to demand prevention, to protect current and future generations; healing, for survivors and their families; and justice for survivors, holding perpetrators and the complicit to account.

It is time to break the silence. The burden should not be placed on survivors alone – everyone has a role to play.

***

Childhood sexual violence is a global scourge, which at least one in five girls and one in ten boys experience. It has devastating long-term consequences for children, families, and societies. And the COVID pandemic has exposed children to even greater risk.

Childhood sexual violence is happening, in silence, in every nation. In family homes, sports, schools, and places of worship. Also across borders, in the form of online abuse, trafficking, and sexual exploitation perpetrated by tourists.

Ending this scourge is essential for humanity. It demands a coordinated international response, and the world’s richest countries must take the lead because they have a special responsibility.