Make our streets safe again
Reading this again and again.
I wonder what time in history they are referring to?
Which town, country, street?
When were children safe?
Who were they safe from?
I live in a region with low recorded crime rates. A region where the population is 96% white, Scottish and British. A beautiful area of rural Scotland, picturesque and peaceful. Small schools. Plenty of green space. Families going back generations living in the same towns. Farms, lochs, rivers and glens.
Local family businesses and shops.
Yet I and others endured decades of harm and abuse. Yet grooming rings, paedophile rings, grooming gangs; group based organised sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adults both existed and thrived for many decades and will be happening right now.
Make our streets safe. Safer.
Safeguard.
Prevent abuse and harm
Protect
Support survivors
Increase awareness and knowledge about the techniques used by abusers, how exploitation and rape rings/ gangs operate,
Advocate and campaign
Give survivors a voice, authentically
Empower children
Empower communities
Address the multiple gaps in safeguarding
Address the inequalities in access to justice
Stop the cover ups
Listen to survivors
But please stop the insistence that we used to be safe. That was never the case.
