Good morning, Minister.
First off, I want to say that I agree with you that protecting our youth is a goal we all share. However, the means to achieving that goal may differ. I believe that sex education is undeniably one way of truly protecting teenagers from being sexually exploited.
Education informs children and teenagers about their responsibilities in terms of their sexuality, whether it be about STDs or unwanted pregnancies or about how they can protect themselves from unwanted sexual relations or exploitation.
Earlier, you shared some statistics with us. What needs does the bill introduced by your government aim to address? Have other more detailed statistical studies been done on the number of exploitative and non-exploitative relations where the proposed age difference is either a factor or not. Are cases of teenage sexual exploitation increasing? Do you have that kind of information to share with us? I'd like to hear the statistics on this. The figures you gave us show that young girls between the ages of 14 and 16 are the most vulnerable. That doesn't tell us what needs this bill aims to address.