On 16th March 2023, KPMG New Zealand hosted panel discussion on child sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking in New Zealand and across the Commonwealth. It’s a Penalty’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, Katherine Corich, delivered a keynote speech to welcome attendees to the panel and introduce It’s a Penalty’s CommonProtect initiative, which aims to create a Commonwealth where all children are protected from sexual exploitation and abuse through legal reform and systems change.

The expert panel, including representatives from NZ Police, Department of Internal Affairs (NZ) and New Zealand Customs Service, as well as NGOs Child Matters and ECPAT International discussed the need for reforms in New Zealand and across the Pacific, as highlighted by the findings of the CommonProtect report, and shared their expertise on key issues. The event was attended by a wide range of stakeholders including law enforcement, financial institutions, child safeguarding agencies, NGOs, academics, tech companies and lawyers.

We are so grateful to KPMG and Gemma Livingston, Director Advisory Services, for hosting and organising the expert panel, as well as all who attended and engaged as panelists.

As KPMG reflected, “We know these crimes are not something we can prosecute away. We need to remove the stigma in talking about these topics and encourage collaboration across the public, private, and NGO sectors to disrupt, detect, and deter engagement in these crimes as well as support survivors.”