Since 2015, the Council of Europe has been calling for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual violence on November 18—both offline and online. For the tenth consecutive year, the aim of the day of action is to raise awareness of sexual violence against children, provide comprehensive information to the public, and promote effective prevention and protection measures. By ratifying the Lanzarote Convention, Germany has also made a legal commitment to take measures to combat sexual violence.
This year, the European Day of Action is focusing on research. According to Kerstin Claus, the Independent Commissioner for Child and Youth Sexual Abuse (UBSKM), it is “essential that politicians take targeted and evidence-based action” on this issue (source). It is important to shed light on this hidden problem through research. To this end, the Center for Research on Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents (ZEFSG) was established in 2024, which operates on behalf of the UBSKM at the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut e. V.). The aim is to assess the extent of sexual violence in Germany through regular, representative, and nationwide surveys.
Current national and international data highlight the urgency of the issue, especially in the digital world, where the number of children and young people affected continues to rise. The dangers of sexualized violence in the digital space include various forms of violence, such as cybergrooming, sextortion, and also new forms such as AI-generated depictions of violence. Sexualized violence online also includes any other form of sexualized comments, texts, and harassment. Current data from the UBSKM and the JIM Study 2025 confirm the relevance of the problem of the spread of digital sexualized violence: in 2025, around one third of young people in Germany aged 12 to 19 reported having experienced sexualized violence online at least once. These developments underscore the need to consistently implement research findings in protection concepts, prevention work, and political measures.
In Germany, a number of preventive measures are already being taken. For example, since 2022, the UBSKM has been running the “Nicht-Wegschieben” (Don't Push It Away) campaign. Under the motto “7 Tipps, wie du Kinder besser vor sexueller Gewalt schützen kannst“ (7 tips on how to better protect children from sexual violence), it shows how this can be achieved. There is also the “Sounds Wrong – Melden statt Teilen”(Sounds Wrong – Report Instead of Share) campaign run by the Police Crime Prevention Program of the German Federal States and the Federal Government, which encourages people to report questionable videos and photos directly instead of sharing them. In addition, there are several complaints offices in Germany, operated by jugendschutz.net, FSM and Eco. There, children, young people, and adults can report depictions of violence or other violations on the internet. These reports are then forwarded directly to the investigating authorities and processed as quickly as possible. Because one thing is clear: depictions of sexualized violence on the internet can repeatedly trigger feelings of powerlessness and helplessness in those affected when they are disseminated beyond their control.