Since 2015, 18 November has marked the European Day for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. It was established by the Council of Europe to raise awareness of sexual exploitation and sexual violence against children and to promote effective prevention and protection measures. The day is an opportunity to shed some light on the subject and to break the silence that surrounds it. This year, the European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse is being organised under the theme “Emerging Technologies: threats and opportunities for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse”.

The Working Group of German Family Organisations (AGF) has discussed the European Commission's proposal for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. As a result of the exchange, the family organisations express their concern about the threat of sexual violence in the digital environment and call for these threats to be taken seriously. The organisations consider it crucial to bring the actual core of the objectives back into the focus of the debate and to objectify the polarisation between data protection and child protection in the interests of children and their families.

Germany has done significant work towards prevention and protection of children from sale, sexual abuse and exploitation, a UN expert said today, urging the country to adopt a national child protection strategy with an oversight mechanism to ensure consistency and harmony of approaches and implementation across the country.

Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, has been visiting Germany since Monday to learn about the current situation and existing developments in relation to preventing, combating and raising awareness of sexualised abuse against children. On 17 October, the ‘Child protection and children's rights in the digital world’ project of the Digital Opportunities Foundation and other organisations were invited to discuss positive and negative developments regarding the digital dimensions of sexualised violence against children with her.

This WeProtect Global Alliance study, conducted by Economist Impact (EI), explores the experiences of more than 5,000 18 to 20 year olds who had regular access to the internetas children to understand their experiences of and exposure to online sexual harms during childhood.

From 14 to 25 October, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, Mama Fatima Singhateh, will visit Germany to assess the current situation and progress in relation to preventing, combating and raising awareness of sexualised violence against children.

In implementing the Digital Services Act, the European Commission is preparing the development of guidelines in accordance with Art. 28(4). These guidelines are intended to support the providers of online platforms in implementing their obligations under Art. 28(1) DSA.

At the Summit for the Future, the United Nations adopted the Global Digital Compact as part of Our Common Agenda. The Digital Compact sets out the basic principles for shaping the digital environment.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its accessibility pose complex challenges for those working to combat sexual violence against children online. Reasons for this are the low barriers to using AI. It is possible for offenders to exploit these technologies alone or within offender communities to produce and disseminate depictions of child sexual abuse (CSAM) online.

In the INHOPE network, organisations around the world work together to prevent sexual abuse of children and young people in the digital environment and to support criminal prosecution. In order for this to be realised, it is particularly important to find out the extent to which sexual violence takes place online.