#WeToo, the world’s first global organization to eradicate child abuse, launches today. It will bring together leading businesses and individuals to raise funds and awareness to help tackle the growing abuse of children worldwide.
UNICEF and the World Health Organisation estimate that every year 55 million children in Europe – and about a billion worldwide – are the victims of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse or neglect. That is more children than the population of Europe being abused globally.
While both governments and NGOs such as UNICEF have done much to tackle child abuse, the problem is still growing, made worse by the COVID pandemic. #WeToo aims to bring the private sector’s dynamism and resources into the work of ending child abuse.
It will do so in three ways:
- Raise money: the fight against child abuse is under-funded. Individuals and leading businesses can help correct that.
- Distribute effectively: it is not enough just to raise money; we also need to get it to those who can use it most effectively and quickly. The #WeToo expert committee will choose projects to fund worldwide according to impact and quality. All donations will be distributed, monitored and publicly reviewed every 6 months with interim reviews to ensure milestones are achieved on time by use of the latest blockchain technology from Concordium.
- Campaign for action: we, too, can do our best to raise awareness of not just the problem, but also the solution. The further up the public agenda child abuse goes, the more likely that society, including governments, is to act.
The movement’s first event takes place on October 16, 2021, with a global DJ’ed yoga event hosted by Stewart Gilchrist and Friends, with sessions being held in the Himalayas, London, Paris, Bali, Copenhagen, Shanghai and New York.
“Children’s voices need to be prioritized and heard, not silenced. It is timely and appropriate that adults unite and commit to stopping child abuse, and I am so delighted that leading figures in the private sector have offered to help us solve this pressing and urgent global child abuse crisis. This is just what is needed to improve the outlook for our children,” said Hanna Dam-Stokholm, #WeToo’s founder.
#WeToo has already agreed to work alongside one of the world’s leading professional service providers Ernst & Young, Live Nation, the world’s leading live music promoter, and Concordium, the leading blockchain company.
The organization’s campaign plan has been drawn up by the #WeToo Expert Committee, comprising some of the world’s best child protection experts, such as Dr. Pierre Levy-Soussan, an expert at the French Tribunals and international child protection expert, and Dr. Rasmus Kjeldahl, Director of the Danish children’s NGO “Børns Vilkår.”
#WeToo already has in place an exciting agenda of forthcoming events, campaigns, alliances and concerts, more details of which will be released at a later date.
