Worker: employees (Australia and overseas), consultants, contractors, office volunteers, interns, the CfA Board, visitors, or anyone engaged to undertake work for this organisation. 

Program Participant: defined as any person engaged to undertake an assignment, volunteer or otherwise, on an international or domestic program managed by CfA. 

Accompanying adult dependent: defined as any person over the age of 18 supported by CfA to accompany a person undertaking an assignment, volunteer or otherwise, on an international or domestic program managed by CfA. 

Partner Organisations: any organisation either in Australia or overseas that receives a benefit from an CfA program and where volunteers and program participants are placed 

Program beneficiaries: any person who, either directly or by association, derives a benefit from an CfA or CfA affiliated program. Examples include but are not limited to; Partner Organisation employees and community members who directly receive a service or engage with a program participant in the course of the participant’s work with a Partner Organisation. 

Sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) occurs against a child or an adult and can occur between people of the same or different genders. It includes situations such as:

•  Sexual exploitation and abuse; 
• Sexual harassment; 
• Child sexual abuse and exploitation; 
• Women and men sexually exploited through sex work; 
• Possessing, controlling, producing, distributing, obtaining or transmitting sexually exploitative images of adults and children; and 
• Prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation (PSEAH). 

Sexual Exploitation – any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.

Sexual Abuse – the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. 

Sexual Harassment – any verbal or physical conduct or any conduct of a sexual nature that is unwelcome, uninvited or not reciprocated in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances would have reasonably anticipated the possibility that the person harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated. This can include unwelcome sexual advances or unwelcome requests for sexual favours or displaying or sending sexually explicit images or asking intrusive questions about someone’s personal life, including their sex life. 

Sexual harassment can take various forms. It can be direct and/or indirect, physical and/ or verbal, repeated or one-off instances and perpetrated by any person of any gender towards any person of any gender. Sexual harassment can be perpetrated against beneficiaries of CfA’s programs, community members, citizens, as well as employees and workers. 

Child Sexual Abuse – the use of a child for sexual gratification by an adult or significantly older child or adolescent. Sexually abusive behaviours can include fondling genitals; masturbation; oral sex; vaginal or anal penetration by a penis, finger or any other object; fondling breasts; voyeurism; exhibitionism; and exposing the child to, or involving the child in, pornography (see CfA Child & Vulnerable People Protection Policy). 

Child Exploitation – one or more of the following: 

• Committing or coercing another person to commit an act or acts of abuse against a child 
• Possessing, controlling, producing, distributing, obtaining or transmitting child exploitation material 
• Committing or coercing another person to commit an act or acts of grooming or online grooming 
• Using a minor for profit, labour, sexual gratification, or some other personal or financial advantage

Online Child Sexual Exploitation (or child pornography) – in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘child pornography’ means ‘any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes. 

Child – any person under the age of eighteen (18) years as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child irrespective of local country definitions of when a child reaches adulthood. 

Vulnerable adults – those aged over 18 years and who identify themselves as unable to take care of themselves/ protect themselves from harm or exploitation; or who, due to their gender, mental or physical health, disability, ethnicity, religious identity, sexual orientation, economic or social status, or as a result of disasters and conflicts, are deemed to be at risk. 

Survivor – A person who has SEAH perpetrated against him/her or an attempt to perpetrate SEA against him/her.