Statement regarding allegations against El Sistema Venezuela

The Hilti Foundation is aware of the allegations of sexual abuse made against one of its projects, El Sistema Venezuela. The Hilti Foundation strongly condemns all acts of violence and abuse. We stand in solidarity with every victim of abuse, and we take survivors’ accusations seriously.

We understand that El Sistema Venezuela has opened an official investigation into the allegations. The Hilti Foundation requests full transparency and an in-depth report as a basis for making any subsequent decisions.

In its many years of involvement in the field of music for social change, the Hilti Foundation has always given top priority on the issue of child protection and children's rights, and we are now evaluating our own mechanisms for ensuring all programs supported by the Foundation are creating safe environments for all children, young people and adults – in practice not just policy. This not only applies to the sector of Music for Social Change, but to all programs the Hilti Foundation supports.

The Hilti Foundation works with its international programs to support children, young people and adults in empowering themselves.