In the period of 21-22 September 2021, the NGO Association for the Empowerment of Children and Families “AVE Copii” under the grant agreement with the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova is organising the workshop on Safe sport for children. The activity is organised in cooperation with the National Olympic and Sports Committee for 25 sports managers and directors of sports schools in the country.

The workshop aims to develop the skills of sports federation managers on child protection and to raise awareness among participants about the issue of violence against children in sport, in particular the sexual exploitation of children and abuse in sport. A cross-cutting objective of this workshop is to identify a group of 5-6 potential opinion formers among sports managers, who will subsequently be involved in awareness-raising activities with sports coaches and sports teachers.

”An important aspect of violence against children, especially of sexual abuse in sport, is that children in most of cases do not talk about it. Fear, shame and guilt are paralysing their feelings. Love for the sport they practise, peer pressure, taboos around sexuality and admiration for their coach, trap children in a very painful silence. If nothing is done about it, abusers can keep preying on children for years, sometimes resulting in hundreds of victims”, stressed William Massolin, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau.

"Today we need to think about opportunities for the young generation, which is our future. Sport offers such opportunities, and we must ensure that we provide a safe environment for children. The National Olympic and Sports Committee will continue to promote child protection and support members, including by developing an internal framework of policies and procedures aimed at ensuring the safety of children in sport”, mentioned Nicolae Juravschi, the President of the National Olympic and Sports Committee of the Republic of Moldova.

"The mission of the AO "AVE Copii", already for 29 years, is to offer adequate protection to all children. Sport means development for children, and the lack of the safe environment - without violence, diminishes its impact on children and young people. In this context, in the spring of this year, a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Olympic and Sports Committee was signed by our organisation to promote the rights of children to practice sports safely and without violence of any kind", underlined Mariana Ianachevici, Chief Executive Officer, AO “AVE Copiii”.

The event contributes towards achieving the Project’s immediate outcome 1 “Increased awareness on child sexual exploitation and abuse, and the rights of the child in the digital environment”.