INTERPOL Project Soteria, Operational Coordinator - Daniel Coelho
Channel: INTERPOL
Date: 2022-07-20

Project Soteria is bringing law enforcement and aid sector organizations large and small together to:

Prevent sexual offenders from using their positions to access and offend against children and vulnerable adults; and
Strengthen the capacity of law enforcement to investigate, prosecute and arrest those who abuse aid recipients.
While Project Soteria predominantly focuses on prevention – reducing the risk of sex offenders working in the aid sector – it also aims to ensure that the strongest mechanisms for detecting, investigating and reporting cases of SEAH are in place.
To this end, the project seeks to build on and complement other ongoing initiatives aimed at improving safeguarding in the international aid and development sector, including the Inter-Agency Standing Committee for the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, the Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance, the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and other projects funded by FCDO. An advisory board of representatives from government, law enforcement, the United Nations, legal experts, the private sector, civil society and survivors of SEAH in the aid sector also informs the project. It builds on the work of a successful assessment phase for Soteria carried out in 2019-2021.