Worldwide plan to tackle sexual abuse

Ministers launched a national plan last week for tackling
commercial child sexual exploitation around the world.

The
National Plan for Safeguard-ing Children from Commercial Sexual
Exploitation outlines what the government and agencies are doing to
protect children globally from being drawn into prostitution, sex
tourism, pornography and exploitation over the internet.

Published jointly by the department of health and the home office,
the plan says government efforts are concentrating on three key
areas: ensuring that guidance to protect children from being
involved in prostitution is being implemented; promoting guidance
on the safe use of the internet to parents, schools and children;
and fostering international co-operation to assess the scale of,
and combat, the sexual exploitation of children.

Health
minister Jacqui Smith said the task of safeguarding children was
continuous, and the plan would be developed year on year to ensure
that it continued to focus on priorities for action.

“We all
have a duty to protect these children and must do everything in our
power to remove those who gain from their exploitation,” she
said.

Policy
adviser on child protection at the NSPCC Chris Atkinson welcomed
the national plan, but said its priorities for future action needed
to be recognised and resourced in the government’s forthcoming
comprehensive spending review if the plan was to work.

Publication of the report coincided with a meeting in Bath of legal
experts from around the world to discuss the launch of a Children’s
Protection Network, a permanent team of lawyers and experts on
child exploitation legal issues who will work with existing
agencies to represent or assist children.