PRESS RELEASE

April 26, 2022 – 12 PM EST

MassKids – contact Jetta Bernier at

Brave Movement – contact Julia Harris at

Child Sexual Abuse Survivors and Allies in Massachusetts Call on World Leaders to End Childhood Sexual Violence

26 April 2022 – Tomorrow, April 27th at 9-11AM EST, at the first-ever #BeBrave Global Survivors Action Summit, adult survivors of childhood sexual violence and allies in 22 countries from five continents around the world, will demand bold and transformational action as fast as possible by governments and private sector leaders.

The virtual summit will be hosted by the BRAVE MOVEMENT, a growing international advocacy movement of survivors and allies united to end childhood sexual violence. Survivors and allies will launch National Calls to Action from 18 countries and a #BeBrave Global Call to Action, with a focus on prevention, safety and justice.

MassKids, the nation’s oldest statewide private child advocacy organization, will lead the effort in Massachusetts to promote and carryout the Brave Movement’s top priorities which include:

Prevention: Educate parents, concerned adults, lawmakers, school and youth organization staff about child sexual abuse and ways to prevent it from ever occurring;
Safety: Create a safe and secure internet free of sexual violence for all children and adolescents;
Justice: Abolish statute of limitations laws to guarantee that survivors who choose to can bring perpetrators and complicit institutions to justice.

MassKids will establish a 15-member Massachusetts Survivors Council to promote the engagement of survivors across the state and to ensure that their voices impact policy-making and decision-making on Beacon Hill. This Council will amplify the work of the MassKids Board of Directors, 50% of which includes those with lived experiences of childhood sexual abuse.

According to MassKids Director Jetta Bernier: “Over the years I have witnessed many advances in prevention strategies, public awareness, and legislative policies to address sexual abuse, only to face persistent challenges from those who believe ‘it would never happen to my child, everyone we know is nice;’ school leaders who cover up sexual misconduct choosing to protect abusers rather than children; and funders who don't want to be associated with what they see as a dark issue.”

On a hopeful note, she concluded: “Because of these prevailing attitudes, the path of movement building since the mid-80s has been a challenging and crooked one. Because of the Brave Movement, however, we are closer than ever before to a new era when the power of survivor voices and those of their allies will finally be heard and their joint actions will be felt like never before in our homes, communities and State Houses.”

So far, 80 organizations have endorsed the #BeBrave Global Call to Action, with many more expected to endorse it before it is formally delivered to government leaders in June 2022. In addition, adult survivor leaders from nine countries will launch the first-ever #BeBrave G7 Petition with Change.org. The petition calls for mobilizing billions from G7 governments and the private sector to end childhood sexual violence in their own countries and around the world. The Government of Germany is hosting the next G7 Summit on June 26-28, 2022 and its agenda will include a discussion of the Brave Movement’s Global Demands.

The Brave Movement is catalyzing campaigners around the world to mobilize on a Global Day of #BraveAction on June 9, 2022 and demand commitments from their government leaders and G7 Leaders to end the scourge of childhood sexual violence.

The Brave Movement is building new partnerships to accelerate bold action with the European Commission, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), Oak Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and many others.

Massachusetts resident Sarah Cooper, a member of the Global Survivors Council, and survivor of online sexual exploitation is spearheading the #BeBraveZuck Campaign. It calls for approval by Meta (formerly Facebook) shareholders of a resolution that would ensure the company is held accountable for immediately detecting, reporting, and removing all online childhood sexual violence materials. “Our stories hold power” she said, “but our voices together unite change. We are BRAVE, so that children can be safe.”

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About the Brave Movement:

Led by fifteen adult survivors of childhood sexual violence and allied organizations from around the world, the Brave Movement is taking collective action to achieve bold and transformational laws, programs and policies at the local, national and regional level and in global institutions within the multilateral system. The full recording of the #BeBrave Global Survivors Action Summit will be available at https://www.bravemovement.org/.

About MassKids:

MassKids is an independent, private child advocacy organization working since 1959 to improve the lives of Massachusetts’ most vulnerable children. It leads the Enough Abuse Campaign, a citizen education and community mobilization initiative to prevent child sexual abuse. Hailed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as “a trailblazing effort”, Enough Abuse has been adopted in several states and in the West African nations of Nigeria and Sierra Leone. https://www.masskids.org/ and https://www.enoughabuse.org/.