A new country overview of Finland, prepared under the responsibility of the Secretariat of Children's Rights Division of the Council of Europe, in cooperation with ECPAT International, assesses the existing framework for protecting children against sexual abuse and exploitation, given the standards of the Lanzarote Convention. One of the core issues it tackles is the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated by technology.
In 2021, 1,762 children aged 11-17 responded to a survey conducted by Save the Children Finland. The main findings of the report revealed that:
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62% of the 1,762 children had been contacted online either by a known person or an adult suspected to have been 5 years older than the child
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1,274 of the total 1,762 children reported that they would be able to identify an offender trying to groom them through clearly sexualised messages
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17% of the children who had been contacted online received weekly messages containing sexual content and 29% received such messages at least once a month.
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13% of the children who had been contacted online received nude pictures online and 25% of them received nude pictures at least once a month
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girls received more nude pictures from adults than boys and the majority of girls received requests to send nude pictures of themselves a few times a year
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although the number of male child victims is significantly lower than that of female child victims, it should not be disregarded, as 37% of the 317 surveyed boys aged 11-17 reported receiving messages with sexual content at least several times per year
Whilst acknowledging the comprehensive Finnish framework for addressing OCSEA, the country overview found that there is widespread public support for stronger laws and regulations for protecting children online, as well as technologies that identify, report and remove child sexual abuse materials.
The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of ECPAT International and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe.
