Hope for Children CRC Policy Centre said on Tuesday that 438 children – mostly early teens –were referred in 2024 to the Children’s House, the facility providing support to victims of sexual abuse.

Of those referrals, 25.6 per cent were boys and 74.4 per cent girls. The average age was 12, with 14 the most common age.

Marking the European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, the organisation stressed that effective child protection begins with reliable data.

It said this year’s Council of Europe guidelines, which Hope for Children adopted, emphasised the need for policies grounded in comprehensive and systematic data on child sexual exploitation and abuse.

In Cyprus, 70.8 per cent of the 2024 cases involved Cypriot nationals.

The organisation added that 89.2 per cent of incidents were reported to have occurred within 12 months before referral, while 10.8 per cent had taken place more than a year earlier.

Of the 438 cases reported, 57.9 per cent involved abuse between an adult and a minor.

Extra-familial abuse accounted for 58.6 per cent of all referrals, and in 53.9 per cent of those cases the perpetrator was known to the child.

Only 4.7 per cent – 20 children – reported abuse by someone unknown to them. Intra-familial abuse made up 26.4 per cent of cases, involving parents, stepparents, siblings and other relatives.

According to the organisation, around 20 children were accompanied by a social worker or psychologist during judicial proceedings, while 18 testified via video link from Children’s House facilities in all districts.

Hope for Children said the message from Europe was clear: protecting children cannot rely on goodwill alone. “It requires evidence-based knowledge, precise documentation, analysis and the use of data that enables the state and relevant authorities to design effective policies and targeted interventions,” it said.

It added that these priorities become “even more significant” ahead of Cyprus’ EU presidency in the first half of 2026, which it said presented “a key opportunity for Cyprus to highlight at a European level the importance of systematic data collection and analysis, and the strengthening of child protection structures against sexual abuse and exploitation.”

“In Cyprus, this crucial role is fulfilled by the Children’s House, whose operation was assigned to Hope for Children by the social welfare services,” the organisation said.

Hope for Children’s executive director Andria Neocleous said the Children’s House was “the only nationwide body that collects, maintains and analyses data for all reports of child sexual abuse and exploitation.”

“The data collected must serve as the foundation for continuous policy development, strengthening services and ensuring the effective protection of children,” she added.

Since its establishment in 2017, the Children’s House has received 3,019 referrals. Hope for Children said the data collected reflected “the characteristics of the problem and the continuous efforts of child protection services.”

“They also underscore the need to strengthen structures and make decisions based on real, reliable data, from prevention and education to timely reporting and supporting children in judicial proceedings.”

It added that “conducting research and adopting a specialised, unified data-recording tool for all relevant stakeholders should be a priority for Cyprus.”

“This day calls on us to transform awareness into action – to refuse to remain passive observers,” it said. “The protection of children is not the responsibility of a few; it is the responsibility of all of us.”

Hope For Children can be reached at 22103234.