To strengthen the United Kingdom’s efforts to create a safer world for children, the UK Government’s Home Office announced a further 3-year, £16.5 million investment in the End Violence Partnership to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) online.
Rachel Maclean MP, Minister for Safeguarding, made the announcement at the Together to #ENDviolence Leaders’ Event on 14 June, speaking alongside a powerful and diverse group of End Violence Advocates including heads of state, UN representatives, children, survivors, royalty and celebrities.
She reiterated the UK’s commitment to and prioritisation of tackling the critical issue of online CSEA and reaffirmed their support to the Partnership.
The fight against child sexual exploitation and abuse is one of the most important and pressing issues of our time. Confronting this threat is a major priority for the UK government.
This builds on the UK’s robust national responses to address the issue. Last year, the Government of the United Kingdom published a national Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy with new legislations and enhanced technology to find offenders and protect more survivors.
The End Violence Partnership welcomes the timely and important contribution of the UK Government. The world is grappling with multiple, intersecting crises – climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and shortages of food – all of which are impacting the scale of violence against children.
Violence against children, particularly online child sexual exploitation and abuse, is a real and growing danger. We welcome this important new financial contribution from the UK Government, which will enable the End Violence Partnership’s Safe Online initiative to keep more children safe in digital environments and continue to build the evidence-base needed to make the internet safe for children everywhere.
This includes the threat of child sexual exploitation and abuse across settings – especially online. A child goes online for the first time every half a second, but with the host of opportunities that the internet provides for children, comes serious risks. In 2021 alone, there were 29 million reports of suspected child abuse material online, according to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Through its Safe Online initiative, the End Violence Partnership has been leading global efforts and supporting the wider ecosystem to make the internet safe for children by investing in capacities, solutions, research and technology tools to tackle online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). This year, End Violence’s Safe Online portfolio reached nearly US$ 70 million in investments with impact in over 75 countries. In addition, Safe Online is generating new knowledge on what works to end online CSEA, and using the evidence generated to advocate with governments, industry and other key stakeholders to prioritise online child safety in their policies, budgets and business practices.
Endorsed by international leaders and backed by the best available evidence, End Violence’s policy proposal to make the internet safe for children is calling for government action, through comprehensive child online safety policies, increased investments and commitments to prevent all activities that may harm children online.
The End Violence Partnership does a huge amount of vitally important work across the world, and as a primary donor, the UK is a proud supporter of that work.
Listen to Rachel Maclean’s remarks at the Together to #ENDviolence Leaders’ Event
Learn more about the impact of End Violence’s Safe Online initiative
Watch the full event or view the highlights
Learn more about the work of the Partnership and meet the End Violence Advocates.
Image: Robo Wunderkind / Unsplash