LEAGUE: Press Release International Training
On February 16, 2023 the very first LEAGUE International Training took place in Vienna. 28 participants
from 12 different European countries and from various academic and professional backgrounds, such as lawyers, psychologists, social workers, and government representatives participated in the workshop, which was organized by our consortium partners from SYNYO. The topic of the workshop addressed the problematic issue of online child sexual abuse, its identification and prevention.
To achieve the best possible training outcomes and to create a value for the participants, they were separated in small groups of five to six people. The group distribution depended on the participant’s nationalities and professions to keep the groups multidisciplinary and diverse. This ensured an intercultural and cross-professional exchange of information and knowledge and particularly showed how online child sexual abuse is addressed differently in each of the represented countries and within different institutional and professional structures. The discussions were guided by the members of the consortium, while the key findings were presented by the participants themselves. Topics, such as 1) victim identification and risk factors, 2) the communication of digital consent and 3) practices to promote survivor centred responses were addressed.
Both, the organization of the training and the discussions as well as listening to the different opinions of the participants were of great value to us as the LEAGUE team. We are currently reflecting on the results and our observations during the event as these provide meaningful input for our upcoming national trainings. For us, it was important to gain understanding of the knowledge level of our participants for the upcoming work in the project. This also shows us the impact the training had, and it encourages us in our role as a project consortium to continue this path and strengthen our project activities in the fight against child sexual abuse on the Internet.