Centre for Children’s Rights launch new materials on child sexual exploitation

The Centre for Children’s Rights, based in the School of Education at Queen’s University Belfast will be presenting a new video and accompanying booklet about child sexual exploitation and abuse entitled, ‘Tell someone you trust’ to mark International Children’s Day today.

Researchers from the Centre, in collaboration with a group of young people, and a group of children aged 9 -13 years, worked together to produce these child-friendly materials on behalf of the Council of Europe. The video explains what sexual abuse and exploitation are and how the Council of Europe is working to protect children’s rights through the Lanzarote Convention.

The Council of Europe launched the materials on ‘The European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse’, Wednesday 18 November, 2015. They will be used to educate children across the 47 countries of the Council of Europe in schools and through the work of other major national and international agencies working to prevent sexual abuse, such as Interpol.

Regina Jensdottir, Director of the Children’s Rights Unit in the Council of Europe has commended the collaboration with Queen’s and said:  “When I introduce the video, I am particularly proud to say that it has been made for children by children.”

Professor Laura Lundy, Director of The Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s who led the project, said:  “Our experience at the Centre for Children’s Rights tells us that, in order to produce ‘child-friendly’ material, we need to involve children in authorship.

“Sexual abuse and exploitation is a sensitive topic and the Lanzarote Convention is a detailed legal document. That made it even more important to take children’s advice on how to explain these issues to other children in ways that are  appropriate, accurate and engaging.”

Researcher on the project Michelle Templeton, from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s, said: “This project is an excellent example of participation that demonstrates how adults, young people and children can all work together to share relevant information in a way that may help improve children’s lives.”

The event will also showcase some of the recent projects carried out by other researchers in the Centre, who also employ participatory methods with children in their work.

For further information about the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s visit: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/CentreforChildrensRights/ and to watch the video go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lh_bEKg8FM