Available data show that approximately one in five children in Europe is a victim of sexual violence, which is one of the most difficult types of violations against children. Sexual violence has different forms, including incest, pornography, prostitution, trafficking in human beings, and corruption of children, enticing children over the internet, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. All of that can cause and causes serious damages of mental and physical health of children. The consequences are unforeseeable and they accompany abused children throughout their lives and most often a life like that is described as a life spent in sorrow and grief.

In 2010, the Council of Europe initiated the action for solving the problem of sexual abuse against children. That action, named “One in five” is aimed at indicating the significance of the problem, so that the further signing, ratification and conduction of the Council of Europe Convention on protection of children from sexual exploitation and abuse, so called Lanzarote Convention could be achieved, and in the same time children and their families/ tutors and overall society could be provided with information and instruments for prevention and protection of children from sexual violation and abuse, so that the awareness on the level of that violation could be raised.

Montenegro signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, on 18th July 2009, and the Parliament of Montenegro ratified it on 25th November 2010.

State, regional and local authorities have obligation to protect and promote security and safety of children and youth who live on their territory, cooperating with partners such as non-governmental organisations, public organisations and private sector. The approach based on “the four pillars” should be adopted: prevention, protection, prosecution and participation. Thus, increase of awareness at all levels of the problem must be influenced at, and the appliance of the legal standards and instruments of the Council of Europe Convention on establishment of structures for protection of children from all forms of violations should be encouraged.

The activities which Montenegro has been conducting were pointed out at the meeting: theNational Council was established, different forms were implemented (roundtables, lectures, meetings, panel discussions, seminars) by which it was pointed out to the problem, importance of the preventive measures on suppression of the problem and respect of the obligations from the Council of Europe. The significance of the National plan for integration of Montenegro to the European Union 2008-1012 was emphasised in the part related to human rights and protection of minorities which should be overtaken by the competent ministries so that the fight against organised crime would be more effective and efficient  (harmonisation of the legislation with international standards, education of the state employees in application of the instruments and measures, providing of technical pre-conditions for measures application, improvement of the measures which would decrease poverty, improvement of health conditions, children education, etc.)