The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU guarantees the protection of the rights of the child by the EU institutions and by EU countries when they implement EU law.
Globally 1 in 8 children are estimated to be victims of some form of sexual violence online or in real life, compared with 1 in 5 children in Europe. Abuse mostly occurs in the child’s circle of trust, making it difficult for children to report and to overcome such traumatic events. Between 70% and 85% of child victims - one to 18 years old - know their abusers. One third of abused children never tell anyone, so such acts remain largely under-reported. It is therefore difficult to measure the true scale and the number of known cases represents only the tip of the iceberg.
The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) details the measures that must be taken. It protects children in 48 European states. The Convention covers sexual abuse within a child's family and in the circle of trust, as well as acts carried out for commercial or profit-making purposes.
The Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) and its Second Additional Protocol, on enhanced co-operation and disclosure of electronic evidence, also stand ready as international standards supporting the work of criminal justice authorities on matters related to online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) and any crime against, inter alia, children, involving electronic evidence.
The EU and its member states work together to effectively fight online child sexual abuse, and to protect victims using safeguarding strategies. Voluntary detection and reporting by digital companies have proved insufficient to address the rapid spread of child sexual abuse (CSA) material online due to the lack of a harmonised legal framework at EU level. While some providers take an active role, others are less involved, creating gaps that mean abuse can continue undetected.
Detecting reporting and removing CSA material is key to preventing and stopping abuse online and in real life. This is also important in assisting victims, as such material can be prevented from being redistributed. On 11 May 2022, the Commission adopted a legislative proposal - European Commission: Regulation Proposal on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) - Cyberviolence (coe.int) - to prevent and combat CSA, making it mandatory for service providers to report online child sexual abuse on their platforms and to alert the authorities.
On 29 April 2024, the Council adopted the regulation prolonging an interim measure to combat online child sexual abuse until 3 April 2026, directly applicable in all EU member states. The derogation, firstly agreed in 2021, will bridge the gap until a new EU law offers a long-term legal framework for the detection of online child sexual abuse. The regulation adopted on 29 April 2024 sustains a derogation from data protection rules in the electronic communications sector, which allows providers of so-called number-independent interpersonal communications services (e.g. messaging services) to use specific technologies for the processing of personal and other data to detect online child sexual abuse on their services, to report and to remove it.
The prolongation also foresees that, in order to obtain comprehensive reporting and comparable statistics, providers should submit the information about detected online child sexual abuse material to the authorities and to the Commission, following a structured format.
More information at https://www.consilium.europa.eu
The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)
Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
Second Additional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention (Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention)