Victims of child sexual exploitation are “not explicitly within the scope” of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy being drafted by the government, Sky News can reveal.
Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSEA) is a form of child abuse, described by police as a “critical threat” to women and girls.
It includes crimes such as grooming, and can involve both physical contact, such as rape, or non-physical – like forcing children to look at sexual images.
Sky News has been shown an internal Home Office document presented to various stakeholders in the sector.
It’s titled “Scope of the Strategy… Our draft definition of VAWG”, and says that while it recognises “links” between VAWG and child sexual exploitation, it is not “explicitly within the scope of the strategy”.
“VAWG is Violence Against Women and Girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?” Poppy Eyre told Sky News.
Poppy was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four.
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It wasn’t until she was 11, after a PHSE lesson on abuse at school, that she understood the enormity of what had happened.
“I remember very vividly when the police came round and told me… this is what we’re charging him with,” said Poppy.
“We’re charging him with sexual abuse and rape. And I remember being like, I had no idea that’s what it was, but I know that’s really bad.”
Poppy’s grandfather was convicted and died in prison.
She questions how authorities would police crime if child sexual abuse is excluded from an umbrella strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
“Are they holding child sexual abuse at the same level of importance as they are with violence against women? You’d hope so, but potentially not, because it doesn’t need to be in the figures”, she said.
The government has pledged to halve VAWG within a decade, by 2035.
“If the government are measuring themselves against halving violence against women and girls – if they’re not looking at the scale of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation within that – that will mean we are failing many young victims of abuse,” said Andrea Simon, director of campaign group End Violence Against Women.
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.
‘Danger’ of having separate plan
Rape Crisis told Sky News that “for any strategy to be effective” it “must include all forms of gender-based violence against all women and girls”, suggesting there is a “danger” in having a separate plan for child sexual abuse.
Its chief executive, Ciara Bergman, said it could create a “problematic and potentially very unhelpful” distinction between victims of domestic abuse, expected to be covered by the strategy, and child sexual abuse.
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“Some perpetrators of domestic abuse also sexually abuse their children,” she told Sky News.
The government insists the strategy will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also plans to create a distinctive programme to address its specific crimes.
“Sexual abuse is violence against a child,” said Poppy’s mother, Miranda Eyre, who now works as a counsellor specialising in trauma.
“It is violence against girls… and you can’t separate it out,” she said. “I’m speechless to be honest… it does make me quite angry.”
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A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News it is “working tirelessly to tackle the scourges of violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse”.
“These issues are complex and run deep within the fabric of society,” they added.
“The government wholly recognises that they overlap. But it also recognises that concerted action is needed to tackle child sexual abuse which is why we have set out a range of actions… and why we are launching a national inquiry into grooming gangs.”
