Growth in online child sexual exploitation and abuse must be urgently addressed
AMN / UN NEWS
300 million children have been affected by online sexual exploitation and abuse over the past 12 months.
That’s one shocking revelation from a new report being launched by the UN’s Special Representative working to end violence against children, marking the beginning of the mandate 15 years ago.
More and more young children are getting online but that’s also true for predators and sexual offenders, said Najat Maalla M’Jid, adding that the lack of child safety online needs to be urgently addressed.
In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, Ms. Maalla M’Jid highlighted that violence against children is increasing in all fronts, from cyberspace to child labour.
In a report released on on October 10, Najat Maalla M’Jid said that violence against children had reached unprecedented levels.
“Millions of children worldwide are victims of physical, sexual, and psychological violence both online and offline, including child labor, child marriage, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, trafficking, bullying, and cyberbullying, among many others,” she said.
According to the report many more children are vulnerable to violence due to what it calls “multidimensional poverty.”
Half of the world’s children, around one billion, are identified as “at high risk” of being affected by the climate crisis.
One in six young people worldwide are also growing up in conflict zones.
“This is a pivotal moment. Violence against children has reached unprecedented levels, caused by multifaceted and interconnected crises,”, Ms. M’Jid said.
‘No country is immune; no child is immune’
The vulnerability of children to violence is a worldwide issue, transcending geographical and socioeconomic boundaries.
“The problem currently is that no country is immune, no child is immune. In all countries, we are finding many forms of violence,” Ms. M’Jid stated, adding that “you can have the same child who is victim of various forms of violence in various settings.”