‘Just’ prevention of child sexual abuse: A critique and call to action

Abstract

The UN Sustainable Development Goals advocate for the protection of all children from sexual abuse. This inevitably links the safety of children with social justice principles, emphasizing the need to apply an equality lens to child sexual abuse prevention. This commentary paper offers a critical discussion that advances the field by reformulating the ‘just sustainabilities’ framework from urban and environmental planning, to guide a ‘just’ child sexual abuse prevention agenda. This reformulated framework is used to critique current prevention practice, utilizing Australian and international interdisciplinary literature and examples. It informs a call to action to adopt a ‘just’ prevention agenda for future child sexual abuse prevention policy and practice.