Confinement exposes “children in a vulnerable situation because of a mental or physical disability or a situation of dependence”, to confinement “with their offenders, be it at home, in out-of-home care, in makeshift refugee camps or facilities where they are deprived of liberty”, the Lanzarote Committee, the Council of Europe body responsible for the implementation of the ‘Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse’.
In addition, “children are increasingly online”, which puts them at the mercy of online sex offenders.
The Committee therefore calls for information to be provided to the general public on telephone helplines and online platforms, which need to be available 24 hours a day and have their human resources strengthened.
The Council of Europe, for its part, has designed a specific web page not only on reporting violence against children, but also on topics such as how to talk to them about COVID-19, managing screen time during the crisis, finding quality content, home schooling, support for teenagers, etc.
Link to page: https://bit.ly/2xglu6u (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)