ECPAT’s 90 members in 82 countries have one common mission:
to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children
http://www.ecpat.org/survivor-voices/global-survivors-forum-18-nov-2016/
2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the first World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and the 10th anniversary of the UN violence study.
In the 2016 Year Of Action, the Council of Europe will be hosting the first ever Global Survivors’ Forum in Strasbourg France on the 18th & 19th November. This forum will involve 10 survivor/advocates from around the world who have been nominated and chosen for their outstanding advocacy. The forum will be conducted entirely by survivors in front of an audience of government advisers and professionals from 82 countries around the world.
Internationally known Survivor/Advocate Professor S. Caroline Taylor AM has been nominated by the recently retired Head of Interpol’s Global Sexual Crimes Against Children to be one of those 10 survivors.
The prerequisite for Nomination was for a Survivor/Advocate to have an outstanding record of contribution in addressing child sex abuse and exploitation. Professor Taylor’s internationally recognised reputation is highly regarded by her peers, by professionals and by the global communities she has assisted. Her groundbreaking research has been the benchmark for law reform and policy making in Australia and elsewhere. Professor Taylor has, by invitation, provided her expertise and advocacy on behalf of children, to police, lawyers, judges, medical practitioners, communities and survivors around the world including developing countries. She has provided her expertise to London Met Police, Scotland Yard, Interpol in Europe, the US and Australia, and to police in South Africa, the US, The Hague, Thailand and Papua New Guinea. Professor Taylor has published books including “Surviving The legal System” and “Court Licensed Abuse”, and peer reviewed articles dealing with law reform and child abuse; trauma impacts and recovery, child trafficking and child abuse material.
Professor S. Caroline Taylor AM has been officially chosen as one of the 10 Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse in the World, and the only Australian Representative, invited to address this first ever Global Forum on all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Her trip is being hosted by the Council of Europe.
This Forum is bringing together Research, Reports and Consultations held with Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse from around the World and will help inform the discussions, deliberations and recommendations that will come from the forum. The forum agenda will advance all aspects of victim impact; cause and prevention; legal response; discrimination and stigma experienced by many survivors; barriers to accessing help and support and therapeutic needs to aid recovery and healing.
Caroline is truly humbled to be nominated and to accept this once in a lifetime opportunity to advance a Global Agenda that will benefit survivors of all kinds of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Professor Taylor reiterated that the vast majority of children are abused or exploited within the family and have little or no recourse to help or support or compensation.
Professor Taylor’s nomination recognised her long standing commitment as a Survivor Advocate and, as she was a pioneer in this field both personally and academically, her courage and fortitude established a platform more than 20 years ago for Survivors to be recognised and amplified, all at great personal cost to her given the unwillingness at that time of the community and many professionals to acknowledge, engage and address the crime of child sexual abuse and associated social and psychological trauma impacts.
In 2004 Caroline launched her Foundation, Children Of Phoenix. The Foundation provides educational scholarships to survivors of childhood sexual abuse to enable survivors to rebuild their lives in ways most often denied them.
She also serves on the Clinical Advisory Board of SAMSN, which is the peak body for male survivors in Australia and is the Patron of NSW Victims of Crime Court Support Network.
Caroline flies out of Melbourne on Sunday 13th November. At the completion of the Forum, Caroline has also been invited to England to observe and advise on professional sexual assault training that forms part of the UK’s national benchmarking for professional competency in the area of child sexual abuse.
Listen to Caroline’s radio interview with Gabrielle Hodson at 3BA FM Tuesday 1st November: http://www.3ba.com.au/shows/ballarat-today/56817-ballarat-abuse-survivor-advocate-represents-aust
Prof. S. Caroline Taylor – LinkedIn Profile: Prof. S. Caroline Taylor AM
For more information, please email: info@childrenofphoenix.org
