Conference aims to tackle sexual violence against women and children in sport

Finland currently holds the presidency of the Council of Europe, and one of the areas that has been chosen as a main focus during its tenure is 'support for equality and women’s rights'. As a part of this area, there will be a special focus on sexual violence against women and children in sport. 

One of the initiatives to raise attention about this area of abuse is an expert conference co-organised by EPAS and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The conference will take place at the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki on 29-30 April.

Through a multistakeholder approach, organisers aim at providing tools that will assist sport and other stakeholders in orchestrating awareness campaigns, developing protection networks and organising educational and informative workshops in their working fields.

The conference will bring together a number of experts including policy-makers, victim support specialists, practitioners and researchers that throughout the two days of conference will discuss various aspects of the problem ranging from proactive measures, policies and sanctions to the assessment of the actual scale of the problem. There will also be presentations of already existing initiatives that deal specifically with the issue: 'Start to talk' and 'Tackle it in sport'.

Speakers include:

• Elda Moreno, Head of the Children’s Rights and Sport Values Department, Council of Europe
• Tiina Kivisaari, Director, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland
• Kari Fasting, Professor Emerita – expert consultant, Norwegian School of Sport Science and Equal Rights in Sport, Norway

The conference will also engage participants by inviting them to participate in workshops and social activities during the two days of conference.

Organisers hope that bringing together a multistakeholder group will help foster dialogue between public authorities, the sports movement and relevant stakeholder organisations to tackle sexual violence against women and children in sport.

The conference is free to attend but requires registration.