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Matthew McVarish
Co-Founder Brave Movement, Member of the Brave Movement’s SAGE (Survivor Advocates Globally Empowered – advisory board); Representative to the Council of Europe
Matthew is a Scottish screenwriter working in Television and Theatre since 2005, and also multi-award-winning human rights activist. Originally a client of Scotland’s Moira Anderson Foundation, who specialize in supporting victims and survivors of childhood sexual violence, Matthew is extremely proud to now be their International Ambassador.
By invitation of the Icelandic Government, Matthew joined the expert working group who drafted the international standards for child-friendly justice, alongside the UNCRC Steering Committee, UNICEF, the Council of Europe, Europol and the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Children. He was honoured to deliver the keynote launching these new standards at the UN Human Rights Council Conference.
A co-founder of the global Brave Movement, Matthew became the first survivor to receive a permanent seat at the Council of Europe, as he helped to secure Brave’s Observer status to the ‘Lanzarote Committee’. Representing Brave’s global gathering of survivor voices, he contributes to the discussions as 47 nations gather to oversee implementation of the world’s most comprehensive treaty on tackling childhood sexual violence, ‘The Lanzarote Convention’. Matthew has now become the first member of civil society to be appointed as the Lanzarote Committee’s next Special Rapporteur on Gender Equality.
His book, “The Truth That No One Tells Teenagers”, which explores how to reclaim your life after childhood sexual violence, is highly recommended by child therapists. Free copies are issued to all new clients of the Moira Anderson Foundation and it has even been used to inform policy reform in some European nations.
"The Brave Movement will unite the valid authority of survivors’ lived experience with the bureaucratic mechanisms governing every nation, facilitating dialogue in a safe process that both respects and supports survivors whilst harnessing the full scope and power of their insights on prevention, healing, and justice. With the movement pushing for global change it feels like the Avengers have finally assembled."
Read Matthew's blogs and insights
15 years of the Lanzarote Convention: hope, dignity and progress
Campaign launched in Renfrewshire to tackle child sexual and criminal exploitation
The case for the Barnahus Model: Upholding children's rights to end childhood sexual violence
Justice for child sex abuse should not depend on postcodes
“By the time this photo was taken, I had been sexually abused by my uncle for five years”
