Local and regional authorities have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the safety and welfare of children and young people, working together with partners such as the third sector, public organisations and the private sector.  To meet this challenge, the Congress aims to raise Europe’s towns and regions awareness of the issue, to develop and implement community-based action plans and strategies, and to invest in better services.

The Congress has devised a Pact of Towns and Regions to Stop Sexual Violence against Children which proposes measures and strategies to prevent abuse, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators, and ensure the full participation of children in the entire process. 

The Pact of Towns and Regions to Stop Sexual Violence against Children is a tool, launched at the initiative of Council of Europe Congress, that brings together the towns, regions and associations of towns and regions of many countries of Europe. The Pact proposes measures to prevent abuse, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators and ensure the full participation of children in the process as a whole.

Pact of Town of Regions website

Council of Europe Convention
  • Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)
Council of Europe Strategy
Congress pact to stop sexual violence against children
Congress texts

Lanzarote Convention

The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse

Seminar on the pact of towns and regions to stop sexual violence against children (13 June 2017,  Belgrade, Serbia)
Conclusions 

Seminar on the pact of towns and regions to stop sexual violence against children (30 June 2015, 's Hertogenbosch, Netherlands)
Conclusions