Survivors call for effective EU law to tackle child sex abuse

Survivors of childhood sexual violence outside European Parliament with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johnannson [Courtesy of Guy Beauché]

Mié Kohiyama was only five years old when she was raped by her 39-year-old cousin in France.

“He sexually abused me several times in just one day. But I didn’t end up telling my parents or anyone else about what happened for many years,” Kohiyama, 51, who is now the co-chair of Europe’s branch of the Brave Movement – a global campaign to end childhood sexual violence – told Al Jazeera.