Eurochild and ECLAG invite newly elected MEPs to join the fight against child sexual abuse online

A blog by Fabiola Bas Palomares, Eurochild Lead Policy & Advocacy Officer on Online Safety, and Mieke Schuurman, Eurochild Director Child Rights & Capacity Building, who participated to a welcoming breakfast for newly elected MEPs to discuss the key role of the European Parliament in the fight against child sexual abuse online.

Last Tuesday 17 September, Eurochild and ECLAG* organised a breakfast in Strasbourg to welcome newly elected MEPs and encourage them to use their position to fight the ongoing Child Sexual Abuse Crisis affecting millions of children across Europe. Europe is facing an alarming child sexual abuse crisis, with over 100 million images and videos of child sexual abuse reported online in 2023 alone.

Hosted by MEP Javier Zarzalejos, many MEPs joined us to show their commitment to protecting children from child sexual abuse from different angles and political perspectives. While the dedication shown was inspiring, now it is the moment to take their words into action: the children of Europe are counting on Members of the European Parliament to safeguard their right to be protected from all forms of abuse. We call on our newly elected politicians to defend and support strong EU legislation combatting this heinous crime.

“With two dedicated pieces of legislation in negotiation, the EU has a crucial opportunity to strengthen our legal framework to stop this urgent child sexual abuse crisis. This includes a strong revised Child Sexual Abuse Directive enabling the prosecution of in person and online child sexual abuse across the EU and robust child victim support. It also requires an effective Child Sexual Abuse Regulation to ensure that online platforms are required to use technology to detect, report and remove all forms of child sexual abuse in all online spaces.” – Mieke Schuurman, Director of Children’s Rights and Capacity Building at Eurochild.

Members of the European Parliament have a duty to protect children from violence. Opinion polls and Eurobarometer surveys point out that 4 in 5 EU citizens support our call that online platforms should be obliged to use this technology. More than half of the caregivers surveyed in the VOICE research believed that existing measures are insufficiently protecting children from online child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

We believe that this successful event was the first step towards a positive collaboration with the newly elected European Parliament to ensure children’s rights are protected in the digital environment. Ensuring that there is a formal body in the European Parliament to mainstream children’s rights across policies is key to ensure that children remain a priority throughout the mandate. We encourage elected Members to translate the political commitment to children shown last Tuesday to action by supporting the renewal of The Intergroup on Children's Rights in the European Parliament.

*The European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group (ECLAG) is a coalition of over 65 child rights NGOs, dedicated to ending child sexual abuse both online and offline.