During the past 10 years efforts to prevent and combat commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) increased. The diversity of actors involved has led to a variety of approaches and interventions for the protection of children’s rights. The effectiveness and quality of care, however, are difficult to compare; moreover, there is general lack of systematic monitoring and evaluation.

Studies have shown that victims of CSEC often do not undergo an adequate healing and recovery process. E.g. rights of sexually exploited girls and boys are frequently violated during the process of rescue and in rehabilitation programmes. In many cases there is a lack of adequately trained staff to meet the victims’ need of trauma therapy and psycho-social counselling. This has sparked off the recent discussion in the international child protection community on the need for common quality of care standards in anti-CSEC interventions, and in particular in victim rehabilitation programmes.

The study discusses the basic elements of quality standards on child protection and suggests specific quality of care standards based on the child rights approach. The suggestions are related to four elements in the victim recovery and rehabilitation process:

• caregiving institutions and shelters
• psychosocial counselling
• rehabilitation, including a multidisciplinary approach and
• reintegration.

Developing quality of care standards should not be viewed as a theoretical exercise alone. Quality standards also mean commitment to an approach which offers an opportunity for systematically assessing the current situation of an organisation, institutional network or policy – a guideline for a clearer idea of what direction to follow and how to reach the goal. In this sense, this paper can serve as a source of ideas how guidelines or visions might look like. 

• Study: Quality standards for protecting child victims of commercial sexual exploitation
  en-qualitystandards-study-2007.pdf, 0.36 MB (English)