"The willingness to put it all on the line and take risks is how you  change the world " ~ Cheryl Perera

Cheryl is a Canadian children’s rights advocate and the Founder and President of OneChild, the first organization in the world empowering a youth-led movement against the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) through education, advocacy, survivor care, and survivor empowerment.

At age 16, Cheryl learned about SEC in high school and was filled with anger and passion to eradicate this crime.  At 17,  she embarked on a solo, fact-finding mission to her native Sri Lanka to investigate child exploitation. Wanting to obtain an insider’s look into the child sex trade, she partnered with the National Child Protection Authority and played the main role of the decoy—a 15 -old child sex trade victim-- in a STING operation that resulted in the successful apprehension of a  child sex perpetrator. For her bravery and achievement, Cheryl was offered the position of President of Sri Lanka’s Nominee on Child Protection.

At 19, she founded OneChild, which has positively impacted the lives of 79, 000 child survivors, at-risk children, social workers, law enforcement, judges etc. in 11 countries.   As a pioneer in the movement against SECTT in Canada, her career spans over a decade and 22 countries where she has joined surveillance operations on cases involving the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism (SECTT); lobbied across private, public, and civil society organizations to increase action against SECTT and child sex trafficking; and provided shelter and long-term comprehensive care to hundreds of victims in Asia.

Cheryl is a sought-after speaker and has shared the stage with Heads of State, UN Secretary-Generals and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, CNN, Financial Times of London etc.

Cheryl holds a MAS in Children Rights, University of Geneva and a B.A. (Hons) in Ethics, Society, and Law; Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Toronto.  She is also a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Oxford’s Executive Education programs in Transformational Leadership and Public Policy.

She is the recipient of over 28 awards in Canada and abroad including 2018 Order of of Ontario; 2017 L’Oreal Canada Women of Worth Award; 2016 World Economic Forum Award; 2006 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award; 2006 World of Children Founder’s Award; and 2005 Canada’s Top 20 Under 20, among many others.

Connect with Cheryl: www.onechild.ca
Social media handle: @OneChildNetwork @cherylperera

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