Code of conduct & safeguarding

A safe room is a better room.

How we expect everyone at AFSI 2027 to behave, how we protect learners under 18, and how photography and consent work.

Treat every delegate, speaker, volunteer and member of staff with respect, whatever their role, age, gender, nationality, language, disability or belief.
Harassment, discrimination and intimidation are not tolerated, in person or online.
Respect the Chatham House Rule where it applies: you may use what is said, but not say who said it.
Don't record or post from closed sessions, and respect the coloured lanyards of people who don't want to be photographed.
Report any concern to the registration desk or to info@apea.international. We act on every report.

Nobody under 18 takes part without written parental consent. For the Schools Simulation: no form, no attendance.
Learners stay in supervised groups, with one teacher per school and a facilitator per group.
A named safeguarding lead is on duty at every youth activity: the Schools Simulation, Day Zero and the youth sessions of the Indaba.
Two learner spokespeople are chaperoned at the Day One Opening Ceremony.

Image consent is always separate from participation consent, and saying no never affects selection.
Anyone who has not consented to images wears a coloured lanyard and is not photographed or filmed.
No image of anyone under 18 is published without parental photography consent.
Nothing from the two Chambers or the Gala Dinner is photographed for publication, quoted or reported (Chatham House Rule).
Every named quote and image is checked against the consent list before publishing; anything published in error is taken down within two hours.

Every facilitator, chaperone and volunteer working with learners signs the safeguarding code of conduct.
They supply a police clearance certificate, or proof of application by 6 March 2027 and the certificate before 19 March 2027.
Concerns are reported to the safeguarding lead immediately, recorded the same day, and referred onward where the law requires it.

APEA collects only what each programme needs and holds it under POPIA.
Gender and disability information is used for balance reporting only and is never shown to scorers.
Personal information is deleted 12 months after the programme closes, unless the person agrees otherwise.

Applicants with a disability may send a voice note or video link in place of any written answer of the same length, and may ask for other adjustments.
Appeals are accepted only on the grounds that the published process was not followed, within five working days of the result, to the Conference Director. Scores and panel judgement are not open to appeal.
All outputs are published under CC BY 4.0, with every contributor named.