More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual abuse and exploitation, according to an estimate of the global scale of the crisis.
Around one in eight children worldwide (approximately 302 million children) have been victims of non-consensual taking, sharing and exposure to sexual images and videos in the past year. Furthermore, one in eight children globally is estimated to have been subject in the past year to online solicitation, such as unwanted sexual talk, which can include non-consensual sexting, unwanted sexual questions and unwanted sexual act requests by adults or other youths.
Offences can also take the form of “sextortion”, where predators demand money from victims to keep images private to abuse AI deepfake technology.
The findings are published in a report today by the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in partnership with UNSW Sydney, as part of the first global index of child sexual exploitation and abuse prevalence across three indicators: victimisation, perpetration, and availability of child sexual abuse material online. The report draws upon data from over 36 million reports to the leading policing organisations, surveys, and analysis of 125 studies, including the work of criminologist Professor Michael Salter from the School of Social Sciences at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture.
To continue reading this post from the University of NSW, including on the global scale of child sexual abuse and how it’s a public health crisis, go to: unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/05/more-than-300-million-child-victims-of-online-sexual-abuse-globally-report