News
The Duchess of Cornwall attends an event aimed at raising awareness of child sex exploitation
23rd November 2011
The Duchess of Cornwall attended an event today aimed at raising awareness of the problem of child sex exploitation in the UK.
As President of children's charity Barnardo's which supports disadvantaged children, Her Royal Highness heard how vulnerable children are being preyed on for sex via satellite navigation.
"Sophisticated" abusers are tracking victims as young as 10 using mobile phone technology, Anne-Marie Carrie, chief executive of Barnardo's, said.
The children's charity chief spoke as the Government unveiled a far-reaching action plan to stop exploitation going unpunished.
Children's minister Tim Loughton vowed to review sex education and provide more support for child victims in court as he said abuse was on a greater scale than the public realise.
The Duchess of Cornwall looked on as Mr Loughton told the launch of the Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Action Plan: "This country has to wake up to the fact that children are being sexually abused in far greater numbers than was ever imagined.
"It could be going on in every type of community and in every part of the country.
"Too many local areas have failed to uncover the true extent of child sexual exploitation in their communities and failed to properly support victims and their families.
"Child sexual exploitation is child abuse, it is not good enough that some local areas don't recognise it as an issue."
A child sex victim, whose identity cannot be revealed, spoke to campaigners at the launch of the action plan at KPMG's headquarters in London's financial district.
The plan will see specialised training introduced for police and other bodies, more help for parents in recognising the signs of sexual exploitation and improvements made to court services to assist young victims.
Health professional bodies, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Social Work Reform board and the Times newspaper were also involved.