Sexual exploitation and abuse of children remain serious challenges in all states, causing deep and lasting harm to victims. Addressing these issues is especially difficult because of their hidden nature of the crime and the heightened vulnerability of children.
To strengthen Armenia’s response to this challenge, the Council of Europe officially launched a new HELP course “Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse”.
This new online course, adapted into the Armenian context, stands as an effective educational tool for legal professionals and other relevant stakeholders. It builds their knowledge of the nature of these crimes, relevant preventive measures, and the international standards that guide action. The course examines its main themes through the lens of the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the Lanzarote Convention) and highlights promising practices from across member States.
The launch event, held on 19 August 2025 in Yerevan, brought together more than 20 professionals working with and for children, including Government ministries’ civil servants, law enforcement officials, lawyers, along with distinguished representatives from the Children’s Rights Division and Justice and Human Rights Training Division of the Council of Europe. Ms Maria José Castello-Branco, Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee, also participated and delivered a keynote address.
In his opening remarks, Maxime Longangué, Head of the CoE Office in Yerevan, congratulated the inaugural cohort of participants who will be enrolled in the HELP course. He emphasized that Armenia had taken an important step by ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, the main international treaty dedicated to protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. “However, much work remains in terms of full implementation of the Convention requirements. The Council of Europe stands ready to support Armenia in strengthening knowledge, raising awareness, and promoting effective practices to protect children and promote their rights,” he emphasised.
“This Convention today is the only international treaty that deals exclusively with the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, requiring member States to act across prevention, protection, prosecution, and co-operation,” underlined Maria-José Castello Branco, Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee. “Armenia has already made important progress, but like every country, there is still room for improvement, and this course will be a valuable tool to support that effort,” she added.
The event was organised under the Council of Europe’s project "Protecting the Rights of Armenian Children in Post-Conflict Context", within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan 2023-2026 for Armenia.
Background information: The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) supports the Council of Europe member states in implementing the European Convention on Human Right. Its main objective is to enhance the capacity of judges, lawyers and prosecutors, in all 46 Council of Europe member states and beyond, to apply the European human rights standards in their daily work.