Global Threat Assessment 2021
The global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online needs a new approach
The global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online needs a new approach
The global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online needs a new approach
Posted in: Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse , Uncategorised
Press release, WeProtect Global Alliance, 19 October 2021 | New report shows the scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse online is increasing, calling for a stronger collective global response .
WeProtect Global Alliance, a global movement of more than 200 governments, private sector companies and civil society organisations working together to transform the global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online, has today published its 2021 Global Threat Assessment.
Its findings show that the scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse online is increasing at such a rapid rate that a step change is urgently required in the global response to create safe online environments for children.
It shows that in the past two years the reporting of child sexual exploitation and abuse online has reached its highest levels with the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) processing 60,000 reports of child sexual abuse online every day.
The COVID-19 pandemic is undeniably one contributory factor behind the spike in reported incidents. The rise in child ‘self-generated’ sexual material is another trend that challenges the existing response with the Internet Watch Foundation observing a 77% increase in child ‘self-generated’ sexual material from 2019 to 2020.
“It is clear that technology is dramatically changing the nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse online around the world, including across the African continent. No country is immune.”
Cornelius Williams
Director, Child Protection Programme Team, UNICEF
Iain Drennan, Executive Director of WeProtect Global Alliance, says:
“The internet has become central to children’s lives across the world, even more so as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two years, we have observed an increase in the scale and complexity of child sexual abuse online. This report should act as a wake-up call to us all; together we must step up the global response and create a safer digital world for all children.”
The 2021 Global Threat Assessment report details the scale and scope of the threat of child sexual exploitation online and aims to encourage action on the issue to reduce the risk to children and prevent abuse before it happens.
The three main insights of the report are:
As part of the report, a global study of childhood experiences of more than 5,000 young adults (aged 18 to 20) across 54 countries was completed by Economist Impact. More than a third of respondents (34%) had been asked to do something sexually explicit online they were uncomfortable with during their childhood.
Also included in the report was a survey of technology companies that showed most are using tools to detect child sexual abuse material (87% use image ‘hash-matching’), but only 37% currently use tools to detect online grooming.
WeProtect Global Alliance’s Global Strategic Response (GSR) provides a global strategy to eliminate child sexual exploitation and abuse, calling for greater voluntary cooperation, transparency, and implementation of online safety technologies, greater regulation to make online environments safer for children, and an increased investment in law enforcement.
The Economist Impact survey also demonstrated that girls, and respondents who identified as transgender/non-binary, LGBQ+ and/or disabled, were more likely to experience online sexual harms during childhood: