The petition calling for better protection against child sexual abuse in the EU was also officially launched in Italy. The event – organised by Justice Initiative, a project of the Swiss Guido Fluri Foundation – was held on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at the Milan headquarters of Emergency NGO Onlus. The opportunity was the inauguration of the photo exhibition ‘Shame – European Stories’, patronised by the Council of Europe and realised by the Italian photo-reporter Simone Padovani. In addition to the photographer and Guido Fluri, the representative of the Council of Europe Luisella Pavan Woolfe, the Member of Parliament Emma Bonino, as well as Italian and European victims of child abuse were present at the ceremony.
“This sexualised violence on the Internet must be stopped,” emphasised Guido Fluri, creator of Justice Initiative, speaking in Milan, “because behind every image there is abuse. And behind every abuse there is the suffering of a child.” Fluri added: “On the one hand, survivors of sexual violence should receive more support. On the other hand, it is about preventing children from continuing to be abused. We call for the European Union to take a global leadership position and vote for the current legislative proposal to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, so that we can protect all children and adolescents and bring justice to survivors.”
The Director of the Italian Office of the Council of Europe Luisella Pavan-Woolfe said: “I support Justice Initiative’s petition because I am convinced that children should be able to benefit from all the fundamental rights and freedoms protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international and European instruments.”
Created at the behest of Justice Initiative, the photo exhibition ‘SHAME – European Stories’ gives a face and a voice to victims of abuse for the first time. From Italy to Sweden, from Romania to Portugal: over the last few months, portraits of more than 60 victims of child abuse across Europe have been collected. For Guido Fluri, “the exhibition should open eyes and pave the way for a just solution in Europe. The victims, the affected, the survivors, everyone must receive justice in life.” In Italy, the exhibition – which will tour around the country with the aim of raising public awareness – enjoys the important support of Emergency ONG Onlus, which “shares and promotes its values of solidarity and respect for human rights.”
For Simone Padovani, who also directs the signature collection campaign in Italy, “we must change things now and act, with small gestures, by really listening to those around us and those who cross our lives, taking a stand and demanding solutions from the parties involved, governments and the European Community.”
Irene, one of the victims, invited to “sign and disseminate the European petition launched by Justice Initiative” because “sexual abuse continues to perpetrate and to reap victims and the responsibility lies with everyone.” Francesco Zanardi, president of Rete L’ABUSO and himself a victim, emphasised how his NGO “takes Justice Initiative’s petition very positively, which aims at achieving an effective solution that fills the specific legislative gaps that each Member State has within it.”
Simone Padovani
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