Last updated July 2026
Safeguarding
EOSYN Space is committed to the safety and wellbeing of every child and young person in our programmes. We work with girls from age twelve. That places a duty on us that comes before every other thing on this website.
Our safeguarding commitment
EOSYN Space has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, exploitation, and neglect. All staff, mentors, volunteers, and partners who work with minors undergo background checks, reference verification, and safeguarding training before any contact with programme participants.
- Every adult working with under-18s holds a current criminal record check, arranged and paid for by us.
- Every camp has a named on-site safeguarding lead who is not also teaching.
- No one-to-one unsupervised contact between an adult and a young participant, in person or online. Mentorship for under-18s runs through a guardian-copied channel.
- Photography requires written guardian consent, and consent can be withdrawn at any point afterwards, including for images already published.
- Volunteers and staff complete safeguarding training before contact, not after.
Code of conduct for mentors and volunteers
- Treat all children and young people with respect and dignity.
- Never be alone with a child in an unobservable setting, in person or online.
- Never use language or behaviour that is threatening, demeaning, or inappropriate.
- Never photograph or record a child without documented parental consent.
- Report any concern immediately — no concern is too small.
- Respect confidentiality — safeguarding information is shared on a need-to-know basis only.
How to report a concern
You do not need proof, and you do not need to be sure. Raising a concern that turns out to be nothing is the correct thing to have done.
- If a child is in immediate danger, call 112.
Belgian emergency services come first. Contact us afterwards, not instead. - Contact our Designated Safeguarding Officer.
For any concern connected to an EOSYN Space programme, person, or partner. - Or use the anonymous reporting form below.
You do not have to tell us who you are for us to act. - You can escalate outside EOSYN Space at any point.
You do not need our permission, and you do not need to try us first. See external reporting below. - We will not retaliate against a good-faith report.
This is a binding commitment, not a courtesy. See whistleblower protection below.
Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO)
Contact: safeguarding@eosynspace.org
Alternative contact, if the DSO is the subject of the concern: hello@eosynspace.org marked “URGENT — for Executive Director”.
Reports reach the DSO and one named trustee, and nobody else. We acknowledge the same working day.
Anonymous reporting
You can report a concern without revealing your identity. This form is encrypted in transit, does not log IP addresses, and does not use tracking cookies. Nothing on this page identifies you.
What happens after a report
- Acknowledgement the same working day, from a named person.
- Immediate precautionary suspension of any adult subject to a concern, which is not a finding of wrongdoing.
- Referral to statutory authorities where the threshold is met — that decision is not ours to defer.
- An outcome communicated to the person who raised it, as far as confidentiality allows.
Anonymised safeguarding figures, including the number of concerns raised and referred, are published annually. A year showing zero concerns would worry us more than a year showing some.
External reporting
If you do not trust EOSYN Space's internal process, or if the concern involves senior leadership, report directly to Belgian child protection services. You do not owe us a first attempt.
- Child Focus — 116 000 (opens in a new tab)
Belgium's national centre for missing and sexually exploited children. Free, 24/7, in French, Dutch and English. - SOS Enfants (Wallonia and Brussels) (opens in a new tab)
ONE-accredited child protection teams for concerns about abuse or neglect in the French-speaking community. - Vertrouwenscentrum Kindermishandeling — 1712 (Flanders) (opens in a new tab)
Flemish confidential centres for child abuse, violence and neglect. Advice is available anonymously.
Adults at risk
Our mentorship and fellowship participants are adults, but power imbalance still applies: a mentor may sit on hiring panels in a small field. Either side can end a pairing without giving a reason, and doing so is never recorded against the participant.
Whistleblower protection
EOSYN Space will not retaliate against any person who makes a good-faith report of a safeguarding concern. This includes protection against dismissal, demotion, harassment, or any other form of retaliation. This protection applies to staff, volunteers, mentors, partners, and programme participants.
All safeguarding records are encrypted at rest. Access is restricted to the Designated Safeguarding Officer and the Executive Director only. Records are retained for seven years after last contact with the individual, then securely deleted.