Sports and leisure clubs could be a source of great potential when it comes to preventing sexualised violence against children and young people. However, as revealed by a survey conducted by the ZHAW in the canton of Zurich, there is room for improvement and a need for more support regarding the prevention efforts of sports clubs, youth associations and those active in the area of open child and youth work. The majority of the 400 surveyed employees stated that the prevention of sexualised violence is a relevant topic in their institution. “They rated their ability to both find and understand information on prevention as high,” says study author Frank Wieber from the Institute of Health Sciences at the ZHAW’s School of Health Professions. While this is a positive sign, it is by no means enough to prevent cases of sexualised violence, says Wieber. In sports clubs, around 6.2% of survey participants reported suspected or actual incidents of sexualised violence in the past five years, while this figure stood at 21.2% for youth associations and 40.5% for participants active in the open youth and child work segment.

Measures are not sufficiently implemented

“There are blind spots as well as a failure to adequately implement specific measures,” says Wieber. For 16 out of 18 specific prevention measures queried by the survey, only around half of the respondents stated that their institution implements them. These measures included, for example, including the protection against sexualised violence in the organization’s articles of association and providing employees with regular training on these issues. The survey also revealed a considerable need for greater support in developing and implementing prevention measures. A majority of the survey participants would like to see this need covered by a professional centre that is not part of the school system itself.

Study (in German): “Prevention of sexual exploitation of children in the canton of Zurich”