In May-July 2021, we delivered a digital campaign which ran during the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship.
It’s a Penalty teamed up with Gary Lineker to produce a campaign video highlighting the impact of CSEA (child sexual exploitation and abuse) and human trafficking on boys, which featured across our social media channels.
To raise awareness, we also partnered with Hilton hotels and St Giles hotels across Europe, who displayed posters featuring Gary Lineker, the signs to look out for and reporting hotlines in hotel reception areas and elevators.
Our ‘What is Human Trafficking?’ video featuring the actor Liam Neeson was shown on digital screens in the hotels in London, Glasgow, Baku, Rome, Amsterdam, Munich, Bucharest and St Petersburg.
It’s a Penalty focused on boys for the EUROS campaign because they are often overlooked in legislation protecting children from sexual violence, in government action plans and in wider dialogue.
Our goal was to challenge the social stigma surrounding the abuse of boys, which leads many boys to stay silent, and the pervasive misconception that boys cannot be victims of sexual abuse. As well as highlighting the issue that, for a variety of reasons and in specific contexts, boys are increasingly vulnerable to CSEA.
Through collaborative efforts and harnessing the power of major sporting events such as the EUROS, we are able to meaningfully contribute to prevention measures against human trafficking, exploitation and abuse, and work towards building a world where no one is vulnerable to these forms of violence.