17/11/2015 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The newly established European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse will be presented at a press conference at 11 am on Wednesday 18 November in the A.G. Leventis Gallery in Nicosia. On this occasion, the Council of Europe will also unveil its new animation video for children (9-13 year-olds) “Tell Someone You Trust” aimed at helping children to speak up when they are victims of sexual violence.
The following day, on Thursday 19 November, a balloon launch, organised by the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus, will take place in front of the Parliament building in the presence of the President Yiannakis Omirou and Members of the House, to celebrate the establishment, by the Council of Europe, of this new European Day, and also to mark the first anniversary of the ratification by the Cyprus House of Representatives on the Council of Europe Lanzarote Convention, which came into effect In June 2015.
The European Day will add to the work of the Council of Europe and its member states under the ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children.
The objectives of the European Day are to:
- raise public awareness of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, and the need to prevent such acts;
- facilitate open discussion on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and help prevent and eliminate the stigmatisation of victims;
- promote the ratification and implementation of the Lanzarote Convention - a unique legally-binding instrument that obliges Parties to criminalise all forms of sexual abuse of children and spells out the ways to fight it.
Speakers at the press conference will include:
- Anastasios Paul Leventis, Chairman of the Board of the A.G. Leventis Foundation
- Stella Kyriakides, Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and member of the Steering Group of the Cyprus Project of the ONE in FIVE Campaign
- Andreas Ashiotis, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance
- Leda Koursoumba, Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
The press conference will be held, in English, at 11 am on Wednesday 18 November 2015 at the A.G. Leventis Gallery, 5, A.G. Leventis St (ex Leonidou St), 1097 Nicosia, Cyprus.
For further information or accreditation: Anne Godfrey, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, [email protected], local mobile +357 991 830 59.