Sensitive content
This site contains sensitive content that includes references to sexual violence.
Standing with survivors: My call to strengthen EU child protection laws
Imagine being the victim of a crime so traumatising it takes you years, even decades, to be able to tell anyone about it. Then imagine that when you are finally able to do so, nothing can be done. You are told it is too late for justice.
June 17, 2025
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Digital futures, safe childhoods: Prioritizing child protection in Africa’s budgets
Governments across Africa must urgently plan and budget now for children's safety in our increasingly digital world
June 16, 2025
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Why the G7 must prioritize childhood sexual violence: A survivor’s call from Jamaica to the world
As a survivor, I speak with the weight of lived experience. As an advocate, I speak for the countless children whose voices are still silenced
June 5, 2025
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From awareness to action: Why Every G7 country needs a national action plan to end childhood sexual violence
Seven of the richest nations do not have a complete national action plan - that includes prevention, healing and justice - to address childhood sexual violence. Without a national action plan, there is no meaningful action. Without action, we cannot ensure that children can thrive in safety, free from the threat of sexual violence. These three pillars of prevention, healing, and justice deepen our understanding of the multifaceted nature of violence. I wrote a play called GROOMED about the psychological effects of child sexual abuse. Awareness is a term used frequently about child sexual abuse. What as a society are we actually doing for prevention, healing and justice? The Police Crime Commissioners estimate one adult in 60 is a sexual threat to children. Abuse is damage to the core identity of the child that will persist forever unless properly attended to. Comprehensive national action plans must include funding for long-term, survivor-informed healing services, not just crisis intervention, but the deep work of recovery. That includes national policies to eliminate legal barriers and to ensure that institutions can no longer hide behind bureaucracy. But now, I find meaning in a different kind of scorecard: the G7 Scorecard on childhood sexual violence. Every survivor deserves healing, no matter when they come forward. But most importantly, ask yourself: Why don’t we have a national action plan yet and what are we waiting for?
June 5, 2025
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Time for justice - why Europe must unite to make sure child sex abusers never escape
A statute of limitation in relation to childhood sexual violence defines the maximum amount of time a victim can wait before starting legal proceedings against the perpetrators. Setting this limit for survivors of childhood sexual abuse is harmful as it means that many do not recieve justice if they can’t speak up within the imposed deadline, which is usually an arbitrary amount of time. Governments retaining these harmful statutes of limitation for survivors of childhood sexual abuse is not only deeply unfair to victims but dangerous for future generations and extremely costly for society. For these reasons it's not surprising that the complete elimination of statutes of limitations in relation to childhood sexual violence of is one of the highest priorities of the global survivor movement. Unfortunately for them, evidence obtained from countries that have no statutes of limitations in relation to childhood sexual violence disprove that claim. There are some types of evidence that survive the passage of time such as a criminals' confessions, DNA, child sex abuse material, the internal archives of institutions that have shielded abusers (i.e. catholic church, boy scouts) or multiple victims who describe the same modus operandi committed by a common perpetrator. The European commission and the European Parliament want to change this outrageous situation by including a legally binding common standard on the new directive against child sexual abuse. On Tuesday 17th of June, the European Parliament will vote their proposal to establish in the new directive that there should be no criminal or civil statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.
June 4, 2025
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Youth-led social change: Creating a generation of empowered digital citizens
By Victor Samuel, Program Manager, Action Against Child Sexual Abuse Initiative(ACSAI) ACSAI is challenging misconceptions about online violence, breaking cultural barriers that silence victims, and creating safer digital spaces for children in Africa, by amplifying the voices of digital natives and survivors. Sexual violence is often shrouded in silence due to cultural taboos, and online-assisted crimes against children and young people face similar stigma. Unfortunately, a widespread misconception exists that young people are merely users of technology, not direct victims of online crimes. Online child sexual exploitation and abuse of children, especially young girls, is on the rise. Young change makers use their own personal social media platforms to share relatable, anonymized stories, demystifying digital threats and empower young people to recognize, resist, and report abuse. They teach others about: Violence: sextortion that happens via messaging apps, grooming through fake social media accounts and AI- generated images of minors Responsible internet use: encouraging privacy settings and secure passwords, not to share or forward explicit content, understanding consent in the digital space, discouraging participation in online bullying, shaming, and knowing how to verify information sources as an essential digital literacy skill Guidance to peers experiencing abuse: listening without judgment, recognizing signs of online abuse, knowing when and how to refer peers to trusted adults or support systems, and promoting the ACSAI reporting hotline The program’s success lies in its participatory approach, ensuring that young people are not just recipients of information but active contributors in shaping solutions. At least 40 cases of online abuse have been reported through the ACSAI hotline with support from E-Changemakers Over 32 instances of child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate image content have been successfully removed through a range of trusted reporting mechanisms. These young ambassadors play a critical role** in: Educating peers on how to report abuse Facilitating the removal of intimate images and child sexual abuse material Advocating for a safer digital environment By working alongside young people and survivors, we have successfully co-created solutions with them. We have transformed the narrative: young people are not just spectators but active participants in creating a safer digital world. * When a report is been made to the ACSAI hotline (www.acsaing.org/report), ACSAI's trained Internet Content Analyst verifies and classifies the content as CSAM or IIA (intimate image abuse).
May 28, 2025
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We can end violence against children - here’s the proof from the last seven days
Three countries, three big wins in the last seven days in the fight to end violence against children.
May 20, 2025
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Take It Down Act: Awaited U.S. legislation to keep kids safe from online sexual exploitation
It specifically targets the distribution and threats of sharing non-consensual intimate images - including AI-generated content - as a federal crime, protecting survivors from further harm and ensuring that there are no loopholes for perpetrators based on location. Over 300 million children under the age of 18 have been affected by online child and sexual exploitation and abuse in the last 12 months. As the home to many of the world’s leading tech companies, the United States holds a unique position of responsibility and influence in shaping online child protection standards. The TAKE IT DOWN Act criminalizes the act of intentionally publishing or threatening to publish non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated content, on online platforms. Violence, which might start in an online sphere, negatively impacts children in the physical world, such as bullying in school or acts of sexual violence physically perpetrated offline. Alarmingly, 1 in 8 children globally have been subjected to online solicitation, and 1 in 8 children have experienced taking, sharing, and or/exposure to sexual images and videos in the last 12 months. Online sexual violence can have serious emotional, health, and psychosocial impacts on children and youth, including into adulthood. I was a victim of technology-assisted child sexual abuse when I was 13 … It's been 21 years since my abuse, and I still live in fear of those images.
April 28, 2025
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From silence to leadership: how national survivor councils can drive prevention, healing and justice
Survivors have firsthand experience and insights into the complexities, challenges, and needs of those who have suffered from childhood sexual violence. Through the creation of National Survivor Councils (NSCs), governments are better equipped to effectively address violence against children, especially childhood sexual violence, while ensuring that survivors play a central role in all such efforts. These councils don’t just give feedback; they help shape the actual policies that impact how we prevent and respond to childhood sexual violence. Having a council of survivors of child sexual violence substantively included in policy-making processes guarantees that the voices, perspectives, and expertise of those directly affected are heard, valued, and integrated into resulting policies and decisions. By actively involving survivors, governments can develop more informed, empathetic, and effective responses to the fight against child sexual violence. The Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues was established by the German Government in 2010 as a political hub for survivors, practitioners, researchers, and lawmakers working on child protection. The first Survivor Council at the Commissioner’s Office was formed in March 2015 to ensure that survivors' experiences and expertise are heard at the highest political level and engaged in policy-making processes related to childhood sexual violence in the country. In 2025, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, the two German parliamentary chambers, both passed a law making the Independent Commissioner, the Independent Inquiry and the German Survivor Council statutory, making sexual violence against children and adolescents something that cannot be ignored in the political sphere anymore. For instance, under the current three-party coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the council had input into the continuation of the Child Sexual Abuse Fund (Fonds Sexueller Missbrauch) – a low-threshold support system for survivors of intrafamilial child sexual abuse – along with the Supplementary Aid System (Ergänzende Hilfesystem) – a support system for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. The Council aims to ensure childhood sexual violence programs and funding address survivors' needs by fostering collaboration between survivors, community organizations, and the government. The G7, which will take place in Canada in June 2025, is uniquely positioned to accelerate the global adoption of National Survivor Councils, setting international standards for survivor-centered approaches to ending childhood sexual violence.
April 24, 2025
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