ANROWS CONFERENCE 2025

A statement from young advocates on domestic, family and sexual violence

Listen to our voices

Children and young people’s voices are invalidated by current systems and overshadowed by the experience of adults. The experiences, voices and testimony of children and young people are valid. Listen. Don’t treat our voices as a tick-box. Don’t prioritise convenience over genuine representation. Take the opportunity to speak to us and capture our voices meaningfully.

Help us reach our dreams

We have expertise as children and young people and – some of us – as victim-survivors. We can all be advocates. Give us the platform to voice our experiences and realise our dreams.

Recognise our competence

Acknowledging our victimisation fully is about recognising our competence. We are victims in our own right and we must be acknowledged as able to speak for ourselves. Stereotypes and stigma – of both youth and trauma – get in the way of genuine work with children and young people, overlooking our experiences and expertise. We need you to see our capacity to talk about our experiences and those of our families and communities. A first-hand account by a child or young person is more useful and profound than something paraphrased by their parents.

We are diverse and have diverse experiences

Our experiences of violence vary – from intimate partner violence to violence from both within and outside our family. These experiences are often connected with housing, health and other serious problems. Being young, we are more vulnerable to these threats.

We need the right services

Services that are reliable, meet our individual needs, and are available when we need them and before it gets to crisis. Our safety and wellbeing need to be the priority of anyone working with us and our families. We need diverse people who can meet diverse needs. Then back this up with education to help the world see what violence and its impacts on children and young people look like.

We are creating change

Young people are fighting for and driving positive change. We are calling for systems and services to prevent violence and to better care for victims. Listen to us. Recognise our competence. Stand with us to create change together.

 

ANROWS CONFERENCE 2025

Listen, learn, act

Centring children and young people to end violence

14–16 May 2025

Registrations for 2025 are now closed. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates.

For enquiries, please email [email protected]