Almost 10 years have passed since the Council of Europe has been observing the Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse each year on 18 November.
Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children can happen at home, in school, during extra curricula activities, on the streets, over the phone, through a webcam or online in general. In most cases (70 to 85%) it is inflicted by someone the child knows, in their circle of trust, and causes lifelong damage to the child’s physical and mental health. In 90% of the cases, the sexual violence acts are not reported to the police.
Through the work of colleagues across several of the Organisation's services, every day is dedicated to stopping sexual violence against children. This European Day aims to underline once more the need to respond to and prevent this heinous crime. In 2022, as part of a global awareness-raising on sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children and advocacy effort, the United Nations decided 18 November to mark also the World Day for the prevention of, and healing from child sexual exploitation, abuse and violence.
Each year, on #EndChildSexualAbuse Day (18 November) the Council of Europe invites its partners to focus on a specific theme. The theme of this year is “Emerging Technologies: threats and opportunities for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse”.
This is an opportunity to underscore the vital importance of raising awareness on the emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (XR), including the Metaverse, which are often being misused for child sexual offences in social media, networking, and online gaming contexts.
At the same time, the emerging technologies can also offer opportunities to enhance prevention and protection efforts including through automated detection and reporting of illegal content.
"While perpetrators hide behind screens, children endure harm that scars a lifetime. It is time to fight back - using the same technology that is fuelling these crimes. AI has enormous potential for detecting child sexual abuse materials on online platforms and flagging suspicious behaviour on social networks. More must be done to put this into practice.”, said the Secretary General.
On top of this, governments should update their legislation and practices to ensure that law enforcement agencies have access to the tools they need to prevent offences, and to investigate them where they do occur. Solicitation and grooming of children online should be criminalised.
Effective co-operation at international level by making best use of existing international standards such as the Lanzarote Convention and the Convention on Cybercrime, as well as the associated platforms for co-operation, including through the Lanzarote Convention Committee and Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY), is one of the key elements to prevent and protect children from sexual abuse.
Council of Europe: Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse - 2024 edition (dedicated webpage)
Council of Europe: Secretary General: new technologies must stop child sex abuse, not facilitate it - Children's Rights
Council of Europe: Lanzarote Convention Committee
Council of Europe: Children's Rights Division
Council of Europe, Children's Rights Division: The digital environment
Council of Europe: Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
Council of Europe: Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY)
Council of Europe: Second Additional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention on enhanced co-operation and disclosure of electronic evidence
Council of Europe, Cybercrime Division: Octopus Project webpage