The reality of the lives of millions of children in the Commonwealth was recognised in the Kigali Declaration on Child Care and Protection Reform, issued by Heads at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Rwanda in June 2022. In October 2024, the 2024 CHOGM took place under the theme ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming Our Common Wealth’. To highlight the key issues for discussion and action ahead of this important meeting, It’s a Penalty, as part of the Commonwealth Children Interest Group (ComCIG) has published Our Resilient CommonFuture: Executive Summary & Recommendations. Download the Executive Summary here.
The reality of the lives of millions of children in the Commonwealth was recognised in the Kigali Declaration on Child Care and Protection Reform, issued by Heads at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Rwanda in June 2022. In October 2024, the 2024 CHOGM took place under the theme ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming Our Common Wealth’. To highlight the key issues for discussion and action ahead of this important meeting, It’s a Penalty, as part of the Commonwealth Children Interest Group (ComCIG) has published Our Resilient CommonFuture: Executive Summary & Recommendations. Download the Executive Summary here.
The Commonwealth is home to 936 million children, equivalent to 39% of the world’s child population.
It’s a Penalty analysis using UNICEF (2023)
Globally, 1 in 8 children are sexually exploited or abused before they reach the age of 18.
A child experiences online child sexual exploitation and abuse every 10 seconds.
Every year, 8.8 million girls in the Commonwealth are married as children.
What is Common Protect?
The sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including online, is reaching epidemic levels. It takes place in every community, city and country around the world. Current gaps in laws mean that millions of children throughout the Commonwealth are legally unprotected from abuse by nationals and travelling offenders.
CommonProtect is It’s a Penalty’s advocacy programme focused on legal reform and systems change in order to protect children from violence, sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) throughout the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary Association of 56 countries and home to 936 million children, over a third (39%) of all children aged under 18 years living in the world today. It’s a Penalty works towards the Commonwealth values and aspirations enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and the commitment of member states to improve the lives of all people in the Commonwealth.
What is Common Protect?
The sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including online, is reaching epidemic levels. It takes place in every community, city and country around the world. Current gaps in laws mean that millions of children throughout the Commonwealth are legally unprotected from abuse by nationals and travelling offenders.
CommonProtect is It’s a Penalty’s advocacy programme focused on legal reform and systems change in order to protect children from violence, sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) throughout the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary Association of 56 countries and home to 936 million children, over a third (39%) of all children aged under 18 years living in the world today. It’s a Penalty works towards the Commonwealth values and aspirations enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and the commitment of member states to improve the lives of all people in the Commonwealth.
Our Strategy
Working in collaboration with governments, civil society organisations, child rights champions and Commonwealth institutions, CommonProtect is the Commonwealth-wide movement to end impunity for CSEA, improve access to justice for survivors and ensure better child protection.
Our ultimate goal is for there to be a comprehensive legal framework in place in each Commonwealth country which criminalises CSEA in every form, no matter where the offender is from or where in the world the offence takes place.
To achieve change, our strategy has three main aims:
Strengthen civil society voices
Deliver high level advocacy and engaging decision-makers
Develop support for legal and policy reform
Our Strategy
Working in collaboration with governments, civil society organisations, child rights champions and Commonwealth institutions, CommonProtect is the Commonwealth-wide movement to end impunity for CSEA, improve access to justice for survivors and ensure better child protection.
Our ultimate goal is for there to be a comprehensive legal framework in place in each Commonwealth country which criminalises CSEA in every form, no matter where the offender is from or where in the world the offence takes place.
To achieve change, our strategy has three main aims:
Strengthen civil society voices
Deliver high level advocacy and engaging decision-makers
Develop support for legal and policy reform
