The European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, held on 18 November, aims to build awareness about the need for continued action to protect children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. This year’s theme is dedicated to “Emerging technologies: threats and opportunities for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
Child sexual abuse is a globally growing problem, both online and offline. In 2023 alone, there were 1.3 million reports of child sexual abuse in the EU, which included more than 3.4 million images and videos. According to the Internet Watch Foundation, the EU still ranks highest in the world for hosting images and videos of child sexual abuse, with three in every five child sexual abuse reports (59%) hosted in an EU country.
Today is the European Day on the protection of children against sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Protecting children against these horrific crimes has been my priority throughout my mandate. Strong prevention can save children, that’s why the EU funds prevention projects, projects that help reduce the risk children become victims of sexual abuse, and of offenders to offend. Projects that help to develop law enforcement tools against this crime, and increase support for victims.I commend their work. They are doing a very important job.
Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson
EU funds support integral actions against child sexual abuse, with a focus on prevention
Various EU-funded projects are working to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation. Project Protect and Prevent Through Support (2PS) helps to raise awareness and provides access to support services and therapy for people who fear they might offend against children. Beyond this, 2PS provides training for law enforcement and frontline staff.
The ongoing work of the project also involves establishing a central database of support services, creating a peer education platform and online hub, and launching communication campaigns to highlight the important role that prevention plays in the protection of children against abuse.
The 2PS project is coordinated by the Polish non-profit organisation - Polish Platform for Homeland Security, and is funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe – Cluster 3 Civil security for society with a budget of EUR 2,410,865. The project started in October 2022 and will run until September 2025.
AviaTor (Augmented Visual Intelligence and Targeted Online Research) has developed a tool to help law enforcement agencies to process reports on suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) received from The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
In 2023, the global number of reports received by NCMEC increased by 12% compared to the previous year, surpassing 36.2 million reports. The number of child sexual abuse photos or videos included in those reports also grew by 19% from the previous year to more than 100 million files. Using visual and artificial intelligence, AviaTor reduces the time spent by law enforcement agencies processing these reports. It provides automation tools that help them prioritise and assess reports. It makes the processing quicker, more efficient and complete, which allows agencies to focus on identifying perpetrators and saving victims.
AviaTor is developed by technology companies, Decos and Web-IQ. They work together with 16 law enforcement agencies from across the world. The project is led by Dutch National Police, with the Belgian Federal Police as a key partner. Funded under Internal Security Fund with a budget of EUR 2,066,794, the AviaTor started in 2019 and will run until the end of 2024.
A further project addressing the rise in child sexual abuse images and videos, circulating online, is Protech.
Data has shown that 70% of people searching for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) were involuntary exposed to it as a child or accidentally came across it online. Additionally, according to Protect Children, use of CSAM is strongly intertwined with seeking contact with children, as 40% of people have reached out to a child after viewing CSAM.
Protech designed an app to reduce the consumption of online child sexual abuse material and help prevent individuals from accessing this material. The Salus App, which can be installed voluntarily on devices, monitors internet traffic in real-time. If child sexual abuse images or videos are detected, the app will block the content from being displayed, protecting the user and preventing harm.
Launched in March 2023, this two-year project, which has received EUR 2 million in EU funding, brings together experts in criminology, public health, sexual medicine, software engineering, child protection and internet safety from EU and UK. The project is led by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe's largest university hospitals.
For an overview of all EU funded projects on preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation, check Funding to support the fight against child sexual abuse.
EU latest actions to protect children against sexual abuse
The EU is taking concrete steps to combat child sexual abuse. EU’s Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse is the reference framework for EU actions during the 2020 – 2025. It sets out the initiatives to boost coordination, including a prevention network for practitioners and researchers, creating an EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse (EU Centre), cooperating with industry through the EU Internet Forum and supporting the WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation Online. The Strategy also focuses on identifying gaps in legislation as well as best practises and priority actions.
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Details
- Publication date
- 18 November 2024
- Author
- Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs