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.

The organisation BraveMovement has launched a petition calling for far-reaching measures in the areas of regulation, funding and support, the participation of survivors in measures to be taken and action to raise awareness of the issue in the run-up to the first global ministerial conference to end sexual violence against children .

Imagine you have three children aged between 5 and 12. You are worried about which kindergarten and school they will visit when the family moves to the country-side soon. Where and how will Paula, Emma and Laurin be looked after, in which environment will they feel comfortable and how will they get there safely? Which school career will they pursue and how can the best conditions be created for this?

In his latest blog post, John Carr comments on the current status of the European Commission's proposal for a regulation to prevent and combat sexual violence against children online.