Give survivors a political voice!

I was five when I was raped by an adult cousin during a summer stay at my great aunt’s home in Southwest France. My parents were away. I couldn’t resist. I had no agency.

The violence of this cruel crime threw me into a black hole of 32 years of repressed memory.

It took me years of therapy and an arduous judicial battle before I was able to begin to heal. I decided then that I would do anything I could to fight childhood sexual violence. It is unbearable to think that thousands of children in the world are each day subjected to the same horrendous crimes I had experienced.

Approximately one in four girls and on in 10 boys will experience some form of sexual violence before their 18th birthday. Violence against children and adolescents remains a global criminal pandemic. According to UNICEF, one billion children and adolescents are victims of violence in the world each year. These crimes leave lifelong scars which are well documented: anxiety, depression, phobias, addictions and eating disorders.

Ultimately they can even lead to suicide.

It’s more than time for those who hold power to end childhood sexual violence, a major public health issue. The coming Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Child Violence, which will take place in Bogotá, Columbia in early November is a unique opportunity for the world’s leaders to make bold new commitments on this issue.

Survivors will need to be at the forefront of the conference, expecting concrete actions.

The Metoo movement of 2017, as powerful as it was, with thousands of survivors all over the world speaking up after decades of silence, didn’t end up having the impact this great social upheaval deserved.

Superficial reforms were proposed – Truth commissions, legislative tinkering – but no meaningful, long-lasting changes were forthcoming for those of us in the emerging global survivors movement.

For an example of what could have happened, the world’s governments might look to how Germany responded to its child sexual abuse scandal back in 2010. That’s the year a major scandal broke out in the German Catholic church revealing massive childhood sexual violence over the years. In response to the scandal, in 2015, the German government created a National Survivors Council that is unique in the world. Composed of 13 survivors, the council’s role is to advise the government and ensure survivor representation in policy developments. The survivors’ council operates under an Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues, appointed by the Family minister. But it keeps its political independence.

The Council has served as an amplifier of survivors’ voices, an exchange platform for experts and survivors, and an invaluable resource in the development of policies tackling child sexual violence. The primary goal of a survivors’ council is to ensure survivors take a central role in the fight against child sexual violence.

It also empowers survivors and acknowledges the importance of their voices in shaping policies that directly impact them and others who have been through similar experiences.

It helps break the silence surrounding this issue, challenge misconceptions, and encourage others to take action.

Survivors have firsthand experience and insights into the complexities, challenges, and needs of those who have suffered from child sexual abuse. Their direct experiences provide invaluable perspectives that policymakers may often lack.

And therein lies what would have been an appropriate response to the Metoo movement. Empowering survivors, as Germany did, is a crucial component in the fight against childhood sexual violence.

In one month, I’ll be in Bogotá in November as a member of a Global Survivor Council coordinated by the Brave Movement, a global survivor movement dedicated to ending childhood sexual violence. We will urge governments to establish survivors’ Councils in all the countries of the world. By doing so, they can demonstrate their commitment to a survivor-centered approach to this global scourge and a willingness to prioritize survivors’ needs.

47 years have passed since that cruel summer. I’m still striving to rise above what happened to me. But I’m not alone anymore. I see a more peaceful and fair world where all children can grow up without the threat of violence. Ending childhood sexual violence is not a far-off dream, it is a future within our grasp.