13 July 2022
Responding to the Children, Young People, and Education Committee’s report on sexual harassment, Rocio Cifuentes said:
“No young person should experience sexual harassment. Young people have human rights to be safe, to learn and to be protected from abuse. I want to say to all young people in Wales that sexual harassment at school or college should not happen. If it does happen adults must take it seriously and give you the support you need.
“This is a huge societal issue. It’s not only a matter of making sure that incidents are decisively dealt with in education settings, but also focusing on children’s experiences of this issue across their whole lives – what they see in their homes, what they see in their communities, and what they see online.
“Through education, we have an opportunity to make sure that children know the rights and wrong of relationships from the earliest age, and how to conduct them with respect and equality.
“Children and young people’s real lives should continue to be at the heart of our national and local response to this issue. To ensure this there needs to be developmentally appropriate opportunities for children and young people to share their experiences.”