Attached file
Introduction
Sexual aggression and victimization is a serious problem among
Europe’s 12 to 25 year olds, posing a threat to young people’s
sexual health and wellbeing. This is the experience of agencies
across the European Union (EU), but until now there has been no
attempt to gather or compare data. The knowledge base on the
issue is very limited, reflecting the difficulties of addressing this
sensitive and often unseen problem as well as the differing levels of
focus on the sexuality of this age group across European states.
The EU-funded Y-SAV Project, ‘Understanding and Addressing Youth
Sexual Aggression and Victimization as a Threat to Young People’s
Sexual Health in Europe’ ran between June 2010 and December
2013. Y-SAV formed an expert network of more than 130 people
and agencies concerned with addressing youth sexual aggression
and victimization ― people like you: professionals, researchers and
policy-makers ― and engaged them in dialogue and research.
The project has undertaken three main activities: it mapped the
prevalence, risks and responses in each country using existing
studies; it has developed tools and guidelines to help standardise
data collection and research across Europe in the future; and it
undertook extensive stakeholder consultations in nine countries.
This report summarizes the observations, recommendations and
examples of good practice from these three Y-SAV activities.