Report shows scale of child abuse and sexual exploitation
A new report has revealed fresh insights into the scale of sexual exploitation and abuse of children behind closed doors, with millions of children targeted online and offline.
A wide-ranging analysis of population-based surveys suggested 7 per cent of children across Western Europe (around five million) are raped or sexually assaulted before they turn 18.
Almost 20 per cent reported experiencing online solicitation or grooming before they turned 18 – defined as unwanted or pressured sexual interactions online.
This suggests nearly 15 million children affected in the region are affected.
The figures for rape and sexual assault showed that prevalence is higher among females (9.7 per cent) than among males (3.9 per cent).
The findings, complied from 48 studies from 19 European countries, are included in the annual report from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, hosted at the University.
Online harm
Childlight also estimates the scale of technology-facilitated abuse, including online grooming, coerced sexual interactions and non-consensual taking and sharing of abusive images or videos.
It found that about one in five children in Western Europe (19.6 per cent) report experiencing online solicitation or grooming before turning 18.
It has also highlighted a recent increase in harmful AI-generated “deep fake” abuse material.
This surged by 1,325 per cent between 2023 and 2024, according to the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Deborah Fry, Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University led the research.
Even though the evidence is limited to a handful of countries and prevalence estimates vary widely, what we know about sexual violence against children within families underscores the need to invest in primary prevention or stopping it before it ever starts. This is a form of violence that is hardest to measure and often hardest to confront.
Professor Deborah Fry
Professor of International Child Protection Research
Professor Fry said many cases are never identified because children often stay silent.
They may fear the abuser or that they will hurt their family, they may blame themselves – or not realise that what happened was abuse. Yet we know it can lead to lasting trauma, affecting the health and even life expectancy of survivors.
Professor Deborah Fry
People often say home is where the heart is but, sadly for too many children, home is where the hurt is.
We see betrayal of trust by those known to children on a vast scale, compounded by insufficient protections by tech companies and regulators to avoid digital crime scenes in children’s bedrooms.
“It’s a hidden emergency in places where children should be safest, an avalanche of abuse behind closed doors – but it’s preventable, not inevitable.
Paul Stanfield
Childlight chief executive
Childlight is a global child safety data institute, hosted by the Universities of Edinburgh and New South Wales, and was established by Human Dignity Foundation. It utilises academic research expertise to better understand the nature and prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse to help inform policy responses to tackling it.
