THE CHALLENGE
HARD FACTS
TERRIFYING FIGURES
In Switzerland
According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), in 2020 there were 1.7 million children out of a population of 8.6 million in Switzerland. (source: FSO). Knowing that 1 in 5 children is a victim of violence in Switzerland, we are talking about 345,000 abused children on our territory! (source: One in Five campaign to end sexual violence against children)
Over the same period, only 7,894 requests for assistance for minor victims, of which 5,011 concerning sexual acts with children (source: LAVI), were registered by victim support structures.
Given that 30% of victims are at risk of a self-destructing patter, and 30% of repeating a violent pattern, more than 3,000 sexually abused children in need of resilience therapy could not be helped in their emotional reconstruction, and have their future compromised.
In Europe
The 2020 European study evaluated the economic impact of violence against minors at around 4% of the annual GDP per country. The European Report on Preventing Child Maltreatment of the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that 18 million children are victims of sexual abuse in Europe.
Sexual violence against children is not a marginal phenomena, but ubiquitous and a major concern for public health.
Who will be the consumers, employees, managers, business leaders and executives of tomorrow? If we do not take the best care of our new generations to come, we jeopardize our whole society! Supporting IID’s resilience stays is about saving lives and also about saving our economy and our society!
10%
10% of children, girls and boys combined, are victims of sexual violence before they reach maturity (WHO, 2009, chapter “Industrialised countries”)
20%
20% of children experience significant violence at some point in their lives as children (WHO 2010, Trocmé 2005)
154 000
154,000 children were raped or touched in 2015, i.e. 1 minor raped every 3 minutes (Insee)
4% GDP per country
A european study estimates the cost of child sexual abuse to 4% of the annual GDP per country.
81%
81% of victims of sexual abuse are minors (Mémoire Traumatique et Victimologie, with the support of UNICEF France 2014)
94 %
94% of rapes or attempted rapes are perpetrated by relatives (UNICEF, 2016)
5’011
Only 5’011 reports of child sexual abuse were reported to the LAVI in 2020.
1 in 5 Children
1 in 5 children have been sexually solicited on the Internet (DIF, 2007)
4th
Switzerland ranks 4th in child well-being (UNICEF, 2020).
TRUE STORIES OF ABUSE
“My father penetrated me several times. Sometimes he would do it in front of his partner who touched herself while watching us”
André
abused and raped from age 6 to 15
“Everyday, and for no reason, my grandmother would hit me. With plates. With a radio. With anything she could find. And at night my grandfather would rape me. I was 8 years old.”
Solange
abandoned at 4, beaten from 5, abused at 8
“Years later, when I came to understand what had happened, I woke up one morning with the feeling that I was dead, that my body no longer belonged to me”
Danielle
abused from 5 to 11 years old
“He showed me his penis. I think he put it on my back. The next thing I remember was in front of him and I pulling up my trousers. Between the two I blacked out.”
Emilie
abused at 4
“I can’t go to the police. I haven’t the strength. I’m afraid nothing will come of it, that I won’t be believed”
Marie
raped around 8 years old
“The problems started when I was around 3. They lasted until I was 11, when my aggressor, my grandfather, died. But it wasn’t just him. At 8 he ‘rented’ me out to three of his friends.”
Odile
abused at 3, prostituted at 8
“My aggressor was behind me, I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see anything. It was surreal. Because of this I have difficulty picturing the scene, finding words for what happened to me. Since then everything changed. One “cursed” Spring and 40 years of anguish. What happened was so inhuman.”
Sébastien
abused age 11