More than 12% of children worldwide are sexually abused online

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that more than 12% of children worldwide are victims of sexual abuse on the internet.

More than 300 million children worldwide are sexually abused online every year. (Source: PA)

Some 302 million children are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse each year, according to the first global report to assess the scale of the problem, released on May 27.

According to Sky News, researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that in the past 12 months, 1 in 8 children worldwide (equivalent to a rate of 12.6%) were victims of talking, sharing and being exposed to images and videos containing sexual content without consent.

Offenses can also take the form of “blackmail,” where predators demand money from victims to keep their reputations intact.

According to the Into The Light index by the University of Edinburgh's Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, 7% of British men, or 1.8 million men, admit to having committed online crimes against children at some point.

“This is a staggering scale... Child abuse is so widespread that every second a report is made to watchdogs and police,” said Paul Stanfield, chief executive of Childlight.

Calling it a "global health pandemic that has been hidden for too long", Mr Paul Stanfield warned the danger was that "it is happening in every country, it is growing exponentially and therefore requires a global response".

"We need to act urgently and treat this as a preventable public health issue. Children cannot wait any longer," Mr. Paul Stanfield emphasized.

According to Childlight, 1 in 9 men in the US, or nearly 14 million people, admit to committing online crimes against children, while 7.5% of men in Australia also commit similar acts.

Research shows that many men admit they would attempt to commit physical sexual offences against children if they thought it would be kept secret.

The report comes after British police warned last month that criminal gangs in West Africa and Southeast Asia were targeting British teenagers in online blackmail scams. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned hundreds of thousands of teachers to be aware of the threat their students could face.

The scammers often pose as another young man, contacting victims on social media before switching to encrypted messaging apps and encouraging them to share intimate images. According to the NCA, the subjects usually make extortion demands within an hour of contact and are not focused on sexual motives but mainly on extortion, the more money the better.

The Guardian newspaper quoted Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Interpol, as saying that traditional law enforcement methods are struggling.

“We must do more together at a global level, including training specialist investigators, sharing data and being better equipped to effectively combat this pandemic and the harm it is causing to millions of young lives around the world,” Mr. Stephen Kavanagh emphasized.

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