Survivors as experts, not storytellers: Three lessons governments must act on

This is, however, the first time the five countries have heard views directly from and held a roundtable with survivors and those with lived experience from across the five countries. This engagement forms part of the ongoing commitment made in the 2024 Five-Country Ministerial (FCM) communiqué to embed survivor expertise in shaping responses and to translate these commitments into concrete action.

I went to the Ministerial with three priority agendas we focus on at the movement, and shared them with a group of informed, engaged and attentive Ministers.

I spoke to the following themes in high-level terms, with more information set out below and shared through this blog to continue to continue these important conversations and equip others with the necessary knowledge.

The time has come for governments to stop playing catch-up when it comes to the proliferation of online sexual violence, and start leading the way, as many from the UK and beyond are starting to do. And for this work to succeed, governments must work with survivors.

Every day, technology companies launch new apps and innovations with brash disregard for child safety. I specifically spoke to three potential areas for action:

• Cross-border enforcement with mandatory safety standards. Tech companies will change only when they risk losing market access. We discussed the importance of globally-aligned legislation requiring all digital products intended for children to implement 'safety by design' principles. This principle should be held to the same standard as child car seats - if safety isn't built in, they cannot be sold. This means mandating online service providers to report and remove all child sexual abuse material, with sanctions for non-compliance. Restricting market access to non-compliant products, as seen with age-verification requirements for adult sites, proves more effective than post-harm fines.

• Scale prevention through sustained funding and public health approaches. The digital crisis affecting over 300 million children annually demands the same ambitious response. Governments must look to secure stable, sustained funding for frontline responders, social services, and trauma-informed prevention programs. This includes massive investment in awareness-raising campaigns and mandatory incorporation of online safety into national education curricula. Tech companies must enhance safety by allocating increased resources to Trust and Safety teams, while also supporting public-private partnerships for prevention education.

• Center survivors as policy experts, not storytellers. For too long, governments and tech companies have treated survivors as witnesses of trauma rather than strategists for solutions. Policies will only succeed when survivors co-create them. Governments must uphold children's right to participation in decisions affecting their lives, ensuring national laws and responses are developed in consultation with victim-survivors from diverse backgrounds.

The numbers are staggering; over a billion people worldwide are survivors of child sexual violence. This has become a global public health crisis, and the world must respond with the same ambition as the AIDS awareness campaigns that broke taboos and saved lives through education. Prevention education must:

• Increase in scale and trauma-informed with national campaigns, and mandatory, accessible education.
• Educate parents, as well as children, and include adults in youth-serving organizations: teachers, coaches, childcare providers, and school administrators. It needs to train professionals who serve children within the justice system: law enforcement, social workers, judges, and lawyers.
• Be supported by tech companies. Prevention cannot be outsourced to children. Companies must implement safety-by-design and participate in public-private partnerships for education.

The cost of ignoring this crisis is catastrophic, often with far-reaching negative consequences like lifelong trauma, health consequences, economic instability, and strain on justice systems.

Prevention is not just moral; it is practical and an economic priority. The first visible signs that governments are serious will be:

• Major investment in trauma-informed prevention education,
• Large-scale evidence-based awareness campaigns, and
• Putting prevention on the political agenda nationally, regionally and globally.

Survivors need a permanent seat at the decision-making table. We, as the Brave Movement, call on governments to embed survivor councils into their structures, drawing on existing frameworks and proven models like in Germany. These councils provide continuous lived expertise, making laws more effective, prevention more targeted, and services more responsive.

This is a powerful signal that governments are ready to move from commitment to action. If these plans are delivered through enforcement, survivor-centered policy design, and large-scale prevention, we can create a safer digital and offline world for every child.