About half of all sexual offences committed against prepubescent children are committed by other children. In the same time 97 to 98 percent of children convicted of a sexual offense are never reconvicted of another one. "This shows that adolescent sexual offending is highly variable and it suggests strongly that we can prevent that first offense. Yet instead of focusing on prevention we focus nearly all of our efforts on punishment." - says professor Letourneau and explains how initiatives that target juvenile sex offenders can play an important role in preventing future offenses. 

© Rafael Ben-Ari – Fotolia.com

52% of all refugees and asylum seekers in Europe are children under 18, which is the highest proportion in a decade - including many who are unaccompanied or separated from their families (source: UNHCR Global Trends Report 2017). During the first quarter of 2018, some 16,700 refugees and migrants entered Europe through the Mediterranean Routes. One in five of all new arrivals are children, informs UNICEF in its "Situation report" from January-March 2018).

In April 2018 in Warsaw the Empowering Children Foundation opened its second Children Advocacy Center. The first one was opened in September 2017 in Starogard Gdański in the northern part of Poland, the third one in planned to be open in Głogów (southwestern Poland) in September 2018. Barnahuses in Poland are developed and maintained by NGOs. The Foundation realizes the idea of creating such Centers across the country.

UNESCO has launched an updated International Technical Guidelines on Sexuality Education (2018).

The theme of the World Congress on Justice for Children in 2018 is ‘Strengthening justice systems for children: Challenges, including disengagement from violent extremism'.

A new study about sexting "Prevalence of Multiple Forms of Sexting Behavior Among Youth. A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis" (2018) was conducted at the University of Calgary. The research involved a review of more than 39 studies that collected data about over 110,000 teenagers aged between 12 and 17, all around the world.

The survey and research were prepared by the Empowering Children Foundation's researchers for WHO in years 2016-2017. The report was published in February 2018.

In total, 643 studies from 171 countries, containing 13,830 separate age-specific and sex-specific past-year prevalence estimates were included in the analysis. Only studies of sufficient scale to be representative were included, focusing on international datasets collected across many countries.

© Rafael Ben-Ari – Fotolia.com

Migrant and asylum-seeking children traveling without parents or relatives (so called unaccompanied), are being locked up in police cells and detention centers in Greece. In August 2017, in response to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) open letter, Greece's migration ministry pledged that by the end of 2017, all unaccompanied children will be placed in special shelters or safe zones. HRW informes that in December 2017 54 unaccompanied children were still detained in so-called "protective custody" in police station cells or in immigrant detention centers.

Around 2.5 million children participate in judicial proceedings across the European Union (EU) every year, affected by parental divorce or as victims of, or witnesses to, crime. Although their effective participation in such proceedings is vital for improving the operation of justice, the treatment of children in justice systems remains a concern. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) investigated to what extent children's rights to be heard, to be informed, to be protected, and to non-discrimination are fulfilled in practice.