Breaking the silence on sexual violence against children
Council of Europe, Start to Talk: The Council of Europe wanted to spark a movement to end sexual violence against children in sports.
the client
With its 46 member countries, the Council of Europe covers virtually the entire European continent. Founded in 1949 by 10 countries in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe seeks to develop common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.
key questions to ftrprf
How can we end sexual violence against children in sports?
How can we inspire world leaders to take action on violence against children? How can we involve relevant stakeholders in as many counties as possible? What can we do without a budget?
the action
Via our ‘futureplan method’, we involved IOC, FIFA, UEFA, federations, national sports organizations, governments, politicians, trainers, specialists, athletes, journalists, victims. Together, we developed the Start to Talk movement, calling world leaders and other stakeholders to take concrete steps towards ending sexual violence against children in sports.
the impact
The campaign turned into the central theme of the annual conference of Ministers responsible for Sport, in Tbilisi, with delegates from 43 countries. We moderated a very intense forum discussion about sexual abuse. This led to the Tbilisi Declaration, signed by 37 countries. Today, Start to Talk runs in twenty-five countries.
The campaign is translated into 24 different languages. It also led to a significant upscaling of (for instance) the Dutch center of safe sports.
collaboration
Violence against children is one of the most harmful things on our planet. Children become victims, and victims become perpetrators when they grow up since they didn’t learn to do it differently. It’s critical to break this chain.
So we helped. We joined forces with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, and Kidsrights, the organization behind the Children’s World Peace Prize. Together we created ‘The High Time Movement,’ a concept and a method to inspire world leaders to end this violence, called ‘high time to end violence against children.’
We didn't know that she was seconded to the UN for this project by the Council of Europe and returned from New York back to Strasbourg. The sports question had a rather logical background. After returning to the Council of Europe, Elda was in charge of two topics: abuse against children and sport values. So Elda thought the obvious thing to do was start a European campaign to fight abuse against children in Sports.
1 in 5 children are victims of sexual violence. A big issue with sexual violence in sport is that we don’t want to talk about it. Talking about it feels like ruining our beloved sport, and denial seems like the more comfortable option.
So we started to talk. We talked to the IOC, FIFA, UEFA, federations, national sports organizations, governments, politicians, trainers, specialists, athletes, journalists, victims. And together with Elda, we developed the Start to Talk campaign.
outcomes
Today, Start to Talk runs in twenty-five countries. The campaign is translated into 24 different languages. Each country creates visibility & awareness, develops protection frameworks, and promotes the training of key stakeholders. For example, today, we're heavily involved in the Center for Safe Sports organization and communications in the Netherlands, a multi-million euros operation to fight abuse in sports. It's safe to say that it originates from the Start to Talk campaign. Greece launched its follow-up initiatives in the beginning of 2021, Georgia a few months earlier, following countries like France, Portugal, and Spain.
“Ftrprf has the gift to make us feel part of their amazing team. Ftrprf pushed us to go for the big, hairy idea. They did it gently, persuasively and never losing patience with the constraints of a big administration.”
Why does the Council of Europe choose us?
Previously, together we developed the ‘High Time Movement” for the UN. This was a very intense, complex, and rewarding project with limited resources, dozens of stakeholders, and energy. After this project, the key person in this project, Elda Moreno, returned to the Council of Europe to fight abuse in sports. And because of our collective history and experience in abuse communications and sports, we joined forces in ‘Start to Talk’.