World’s first estimate of the scale of online child sexual exploitation and abuse

New report finds 300 million+ children under the age of 18 have been affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse in the last 12 months

Childlight has produced the world’s first estimate of the scale of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Whilst many gaps and inconsistencies remain, its CEO Paul Stanfield says it provides a baseline to help combat a crisis that should be treated like a global pandemic.

Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a global health pandemic. It occurs in every country and is global in nature. However, this is a hidden pandemic, one that has been ignored and pushed to the side for far too long because the reality is often too difficult to contemplate.

Having worked globally as a police officer for over 30 years, I have witnessed the true horror and growth of child sexual exploitation. Enabled by technology and a lack of regulation, it has been allowed to pervade every part of our communities, both online and offline. Those working across the sector know this from anecdotal information and experience. But whilst this insight is helpful, it has not been sufficient to drive systematic change across the child protection sector. We need evidence that is indisputable so the problem can no longer be ignored, denied or unhelpfully conflated with issues such as privacy and freedom of speech.

Childlight has been established to take a data-driven, evidence-based approach to understanding the true prevalence and nature of child sexual exploitation and to use that data and evidence to drive transformational and sustainable change to safeguard children globally.

We do not underestimate this task. Data on child sexual exploitation and abuse differs in quality around the world; data foundations are inconsistent, definitions differ and, efforts are hampered by a lack of transparency.

I am, therefore, indebted to the support provided by the Human Dignity Foundation in establishing Childlight at the University of Edinburgh. This has allowed us to move at pace and benefit from the support of world-leading researchers and experts across the field to undertake this complex challenge.

Into the Light Index, the world’s first estimate of the scale of this haunting problem, is a preliminary attempt to produce a global picture based on what Childlight researchers have been able to discover in partnership with others leading the fields of data, law enforcement and safeguarding. It takes the form of an interactive microsite that allows users to navigate maps, charts and table and a companion report containing more detailed statistics and analysis to help inform policy makers, researchers and others.

It has been audited by Sir Bernard Silverman, chair of the Childlight Technical Sub-Committee, Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol and former chief scientific adviser to the UK Home Office. And whilst many gaps and inconsistencies remain, it provides a baseline by which we can measure the sector’s progress in understanding the true scale and nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse. As the data improves and we build our knowledge, we expect to provide more reliable country-by-country estimates and expand into other areas of child sexual exploitation and abuse, both online and offline.

This Index is intended to drive research that enhances our knowledge and understanding of the problem. More importantly, it is intended to have impact by raising awareness and providing frontline workers, policymakers and governments information by which they can make better informed decisions on safeguarding children globally from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Our assessment that at least 300 million children per year are subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse must serve as a wake-up call. So too, our evidence that as many as one in nine men in parts of the world have sexually offended online against children – and that many would also go on to commit sexual contact offences with children if they believed it could be kept secret.

And yet paradoxically, this coincides with the roll out of end-to-end encryption on major file-sharing platforms that are increasingly used to secretly share sexual images of children. Just when more than ever we need to shine a light to protect our children, with reports of child sexual exploitation and abuse material being filed once every second, lights are being turned off. If encryption of file sharing is to be the norm, a balance clearly must be struck that meets the desire for privacy for all users, with adequate proactive detection of child sexual abuse material online.

We are in the grip of a crisis that we believe should be treated like a global pandemic. We see the change that can be made quickly, and how countries and organisations can come together, when there is a worldwide health emergency.

We are in the grip of a crisis that we believe should be treated like a global pandemic. We see the change that can be made quickly, and how countries and organisations can come together, when there is a worldwide health emergency such as AIDS or COVID-19. A public health approach to not just responding to but preventing CSEA is required; we owe that to our children.

We know that you are as appalled as we are at the scale of these initial findings, which are just a piece of the data puzzle. If you work with governments, frontline practitioners and others who can support data collection, we ask you to help us by advocating to enhance the index and fill the gaps in data. If you have data, knowledge or insight that can improve our collective understanding, please share it. If you are in a position to set or influence legislation, safeguarding, prevention, policy or funding, please use this data to inform your plans and recommendations.

If you have questions on the scale or nature of CSEA and need data to shift the dial, get in touch with us, and finally, if you work with children to keep them safe and secure, let us know how we can help you and your amazing work around the world.

Online child sexual exploitation and abuse exists because it is allowed to exist. Together, with sufficient will, we can prevent it.