It’s a Penalty launch 2018 Child Protection Campaign

This week, It's a Penalty have announced the launch of their 2018 Global Child Protection Campaign. This year, they plan to use an incredibly packed international sporting calendar to deliver a four-pronged approach to protect children on a global scale.

It's a Penalty will be working together with A21, Comic Relief, The McCain Institute, Sysdoc, World Vision, the Carlson Rezidor hotel group, ICMEC, sporting governing bodies and law enforcers to deliver the preventative campaign. Their partners and supporters will come together to ask the world to take a stand against child abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

It will be focused around four major sporting events, which include the Super Bowl LII (Minneapolis, USA) - 4th February 2018; PyeongChang Winter Olympics & Paralympics (South Korea) - 9th-25th February & 9th-18th March 2018; Hong Kong Rugby Sevens - 6th-8th April 2018; and finally the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (Australia) - 4th-15th April 2018.

They are positioning these major sporting events as platforms for positive change across all societies by EDUCATING about the issues and penalties for offenders, EQUIPPING and ENCOURAGING the general public to #knowthesigns and to take action - 'if you see something, say something!'

Sports stars from around the globe have pledged their support for the campaign including Rugby World Cup Champion Will Greenwood, NFL player Rashad Jennings, Paralympic Champions Liam Malone, International Footballer David Luiz, International Rugby Player Maro Itoje, Olympic Champion Usaine Bolt, Former South African Rugby Captain Francois Pienaar, and Olympic Champion Cathy Freeman.

To find out more about the 2018 It's a Penalty Campaign, be sure to visit their website.

About It's a Penalty

It's a Penalty believe that prevention is even better than a cure. Their ultimate goal is to eradicate child abuse, exploitation and trafficking by 2030, contributing to the elimination of modern-day slavery and the achievement of UN SDG Target 16.2 ‘to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, torture and all forms of violence against children’.

Statistics

• 40 million children worldwide experience some form of abuse each year (WHO)
• Every year, over 2 million children are exploited into the global sex trade (UNICEF)
• Human trafficking involves 1.2 million children each year (UNICEF)
• 63% of child sex trafficking survivors were advertised online at some point during their trafficking situation (Thorn)
• The huge influx of tourists and sporting fans to a country during a major sporting event increases the risk of children being abused, exploited and trafficked (University of Dundee)