Child sexual exploitation a 'worldwide health emergency' warns study

A new report from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute at the University of Edinburgh calls child sexual exploitation and abuse “a hidden pandemic that must become a public health priority.”

The report, entitled ‘Into The Light’, examines technology-facilitation child sexual exploitation and abuse around the globe. It found that one in four children globally face online sexual solicitation, while 9% of children face online sexual extortion at least once before they are 18.

The research looked at 147 studies from 60 countries and was launched at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday. They estimate that more than 300 million children worldwide experienced online sexual exploitation in the past year, with 38.6% of girls and 19% of boys experience online grooming before the age of 18.

It found that over 1,500 devices, across 61 countries, were found to possess abuse guidance material (‘paedophile manuals’) detailing how to evade justice. The rate of child sexual abuse material as a proportion of population remains high in Western Europe at 63.5 per 10,000 people.

Paul Stanfield, Chief Executive Officer for Childlight, writes in the report:

“Imagine in your community a classroom of 30 children. By the end of this year, two of them will experience sexual exploitation or abuse online. By the time they leave school as young adults, that number could rise to eight. Now, imagine that repeated in classrooms across the world, millions of times over. This is not a thought experiment. Sadly, it is the reality revealed by new evidence in this report, which estimates that 27% of children are subjected to online solicitation
with around 7% facing this in the past year alone. Furthermore, nearly one in ten can expect to face sexual extortion before turning 18. If a disease were harming children on this scale, it would already be recognised as a major global health crisis.”

The report highlights the harms of child sexual abuse, including trauma, anxiety, depression, and self-harm, and in severe cases lifelong ill health and thousands of premature deaths. Child sexual exploitation contributes more to the burden of disease among women and girls than smoking, alcohol misuse, or lack of exercise. For boys it is a greater threat to ill health than poor diet. It is also more prevalent than many conditions that threaten children’s health such as obesity and cancer.

The report concludes that: ”Viewed through a public health lens, the scale of the problem becomes unmistakable” adding that “the evidence leads to a clear conclusion: child sexual exploitation and abuse is a worldwide health emergency.”