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IICSA published its final Report in October 2022. This website was last updated in January 2023.

Key Inquiry recommendation implemented by UK Government

22 June 2018

The Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse has made a significant step forward this week as a key recommendation from its Interim Report has been implemented by the UK Government.

The Interim Report, published by the Inquiry in April this year, proposed that the UK Government should ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (also known as the ‘Lanzarote Convention’), which sets out the wide range of measures that must be in place to protect children from sexual abuse at an international level.

This week, the Minister for Crime Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins, announced that the UK is now fully compliant with the Lanzarote Convention and this ratification will ensure that it will be taking robust action with 43 countries to help rid the globe of sexual violence and child abuse through greater information sharing and international cooperation.

Inquiry Chair Alexis Jay said: “This is an important step forward in protecting future generations of children in the UK and abroad from child sexual abuse and exploitation.

“This move demonstrates that the Inquiry’s work is having an impact as it is the first of the recommendations from the Interim Report to be implemented. We will continue to make recommendations where we think it is necessary to improve the protection of children from sexual abuse.”

Alongside this announcement the government has also committed to providing significantly increased resources to the National Crime Agency to tackle child sexual exploitation in the UK.

You can read about further Inquiry recommendations in our Interim Report which can be found here: https://bit.ly/2JpvZVy

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