The National Centre’s vision is a future without child sexual abuse.
To realise this vision, we looked internationally to see what action we should be taking in Australia. We wanted to know if Australia is leading or lagging behind international standards. Are we on track to end child sexual abuse or heading in the wrong direction?
The global targets articulated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful starting point. The 17 SDGs provide a coordinated framework for action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Goal 5: Gender Equity and Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions relate directly to child sexual abuse, noting that child sexual abuse is a highly gendered problem with Australian girls 2.4 times more likely to be sexually abused than boys.
SDGs, targets and indicators directly related to child sexual abuse
Goal 5: GENDER EQUITY
Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
- Indicator 5.2.1: Percentage of ever-partnered women and girls (aged 15 years and older) subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months
- Indicator 5.2.2: Women and girls aged 15 and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months
Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
- Indicator 5.3.1: Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
Goal 16: PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children
- Indicator 16.2.2: Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation
- Indicator 16.2.3: Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18
The 2023 SDG Report has Australia ranked 40 out of 166, with an overall assessment of ‘Limited Progress’ against the 17 Goals and an average score of 75.9 (below the regional average of 77.8). Trends against Goal 5 are assessed as ‘Challenges Remain; Moderately Improving’ and Goal 16 ‘Challenges Remain; Stagnating’. Adding to this poor report card, a closer look at the indicators reveals the targets related to child sexual abuse (SDG targets 5.2, 5.3 and 16.2) are not even reported on. Not by Australia and not internationally.
A major barrier to ending child sexual abuse is the invisibility of the issue. The lack of reporting on these indicators perpetuates this invisibility. We don’t know who is taking action on these global targets or who is measuring performance against them.
Is Australia actively addressing these SDG 2030 targets nationally?
We checked three important national strategies related to ending child sexual abuse in Australia for reference to the 2030 SDG targets: The National Plan to end violence against women and their children; Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031; and the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030. We could not find any such reference.
While this doesn’t mean Australia is not taking action or making progress in relation to child sexual abuse, it indicates that we are not explicitly linking our actions to, and monitoring progress against these important global standards and targets.
What could we find to assess Australia’s global standing on action to address child sexual abuse?
An important assessment of global action on child sexual abuse is the Out of the Shadows Index, designed and developed by Economist Impact. This Index is the first global benchmarking of how countries are addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse and provides a comparative assessment of actions in 60 countries—including Australia.
In 2022, Australia was well-placed globally, ranked 7th out of 60 countries with an overall score of 71.8. However, there were critical areas across both prevention and response where Australia lags behind compared to other countries.
Prevention efforts lagging
- Protective legislation: Incorporating international conventions/standards, rights of the child, and age of consent, laws against child sexual exploitation and abuse, offender-focused legislation, laws supporting victims and survivors, jurisdiction-specific legislation, including prostitution/sexual trafficking of minors, unambiguous definitions, and setting the minimum age of criminal responsibility for a sexual offence to an age of at least 14 years (as recommended by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child).
- Policies and programs: Including services for offenders, programs combating harmful norms (specifically related to LGBTQIA+, and racial and ethnic minority groups), and a national plan to end sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.
- National capacity and commitment, capacity of the judicial system in relation to being child-friendly, trauma-informed, and having a sound understanding of sexual abuse
Response efforts lagging
- Public access to data on child sexual exploitation and abuse cases and prevalence data. In 2022 Australia lacked accurate and current data on prevalence of child sexual abuse and criminal justice system data, including arrests, indictments, attrition and convictions. The lack of data means civil society is at a disadvantage in monitoring and advocating for improvements.
- Support services and recovery for victims and survivors: Availability of initial response services and reporting services, data on long term supports such as help-seeking and receipt of services, and interagency coordination of social and justice services.
What needs to be done?
We conservatively estimate that in Australia today there are at least 6 million child sexual abuse victims and survivors – and the problem is not diminishing. At the same time, child sexual abuse also continues to grow as a transnational crime. Added to this, Australia ranks a low 32nd out of 38 OECD countries on child wellbeing, and Australian children’s rights continue to be violated at an alarming rate, with insufficient protections in place.
The National Centre calls on governments to increase efforts in the areas of protective legislation, a justice system that understands and responds to children with informed approaches, and investment in producing and sharing detailed data on the incidence, prevalence and responses to child sexual abuse and its impacts across the lifespan.
We must bolster our endeavours to protect children’s rights and meet the global challenge of ending all forms of violence against children by 2030. The sexual abuse of children is a global crisis and Australia’s current efforts are just not good enough.