The Guide for children and youngsters, Girls and Boys alike, to the National Plan for Preventing and Combating Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Minors (2022-2023), produced by the Department for Family Policies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the support of the Istituto degli Innocenti, is now online.

The publication explains to children and youngsters, in simple and clear language, what the National Plan for Preventing and Combating Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Minors is, and what its objectives are. The aim is to reach out and inform them and raise awareness on the risks they can run in relation to two phenomena that increasingly involve the use of digital technologies.

The Guide - a child/youth-friendly version of the Plan adopted in 2022 by the Observatory for Combating Paedophilia and Child Pornography - is divided into three parts:

• the first contains the definitions of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation and focuses on the policies for preventing and combating the two phenomena;
• the second one describes the consultation process through which the children participated in the implementation of the new National Plan;
• the third one highlights  the Plan’s objectives and strategies.

The children and youngsters participated in the drafting of the document, expressing their views and recommendations on how to be protected against sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Guide - distributed on 18 November, on the occasion of the European Day for the Protection of Minors against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and available on the Department's website, in the dedicated news item - will be an annex to the Report presented annually by Prime Minister to Parliament pursuant to Article 17 of Law 269/1998, prepared by the Department with the technical support of the Istituto degli Innocenti.

Other materials and news can be found on this site under the topic, Sexual exploitation e Sexual abuse of children and adolescents, accessible from the "Topics" navigation menu.