Support given to child and adolescent victims of sexual violence in the UK falls well below “bare minimum” standards, a new study has suggested.
The UK ranked 23rd out of 60 countries when it came to access to “timely, free, and multi-disciplinary” support, ranking below Australia, Brazil, and Kazakhstan.
The Out of the Shadows global index ranks 60 countries on their approaches to protecting children from sexual abuse across four categories: governance and accountability; prevention; healing; and justice.
While the UK ranked second overall with a score of 78 out of 100, outperformed only by Australia’s score of 83, it saw a huge drop when specifically analysing its approach to supporting victims.
Speaking to The Independent Elly Vaughan, who led the research at Economist Impact, said a heavy reliance on the charitable sector across the country is leaving survivors with “unequal” access to support.
A government spokesperson said it is “committed to continuing our world-leading action to tackle child sexual abuse”.
In some areas survivors are able to access integrated “barnahus” hubs, where agencies work together to help them under one roof, which has been linked to higher prosecution rates, she said.
But in other areas, she said survivors face repeating their story multiple times to different agencies, which she said can “re-traumatise” victims and put them off seeking justice and healing.
She said evidence shows the barnahus hubs are “not just convenient” but also lead to better outcomes for survivors.
Researchers also called on the government to implement a national survivors council to help shape policy, saying more must be done to ensure survivors are receiving effective support.
Dr Daniela Ligiero, chief executive of Together for Girls, said individuals with lived experience have an “important role” in forming policy. “Lived experience can help improve the implementation of programmes by highlighting the realities on the ground of what victims and survivors are experiencing,” she explained.
She said such councils have already been implemented in Germany and Australia, but accused much of the world of lagging behind.
All 60 countries in the ranking are falling short of taking meaningful steps to keep children safe from sexual violence, she said, describing a perfect score as a minimum benchmark. The average score was just 53, and Saudi Arabia ranked the lowest, scoring just 29.5.
“As a whole, we’re not close to where we need to be when it comes to these issues for children,” she said. “The majority of countries fall under a 70 out of 100. That to me says there is a lot of progress that still needs to be made. They are the bare minimum.
“If we can’t even have the bare minimum in place it is going to be really hard for us to protect children and adolescents the way we believe they need to be protected.”
Matthew McVarish, co-founder of the UK branch of survivors network Brave Movement, said the UK’s score is “alarming”.
“It highlights how much work still urgently needs to be done before all children are truly safe,” he continued. “Many victims and survivors still lack access to any kind of support and two key funding streams for survivor support services have closed since the Index data was gathered.”
He added the government has failed to fully implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
“Unless urgent action is taken, the UK’s score of 65 out of 100 for its efforts to support healing will fall even further next year,” he said. “This is no time for complacency. The Index shows how far we still have to go – and provides a clear roadmap for what governments must do to end sexual violence.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to continuing our world-leading action to tackle child sexual abuse.
“We are taking meaningful steps to safeguard children, pursue offenders, and support victims and survivors by delivering IICSA’s recommendations in full.”
“That includes setting up a new Child Protection Authority and victims and survivors panel, alongside bringing in a mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse and making it a crime to interfere with the duty to report.”
