300 million children are sexually abused online each year, new research shows | World News

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that more than 12% of children worldwide have been victims of sexual abuse online. Surveys suggest that 1.8 million men in the UK have committed sexual assault against children online at some point – enough to fill Wembley Stadium 20 times.

More than 300 million children fall victim to sexual abuse and exploitation online each year, according to a new study that assesses the global scale of the crisis.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that one in eight children (12.6 percent) worldwide were victims of conversations, sharing and contact with sexually motivated images and videos without their consent last year.

This corresponds to about 302 million young people.

In addition, an estimated 12.5% ​​of children worldwide – 300 million – were victims of online advertising last year, for example through unwanted sexual comments or requests for sexual acts.

Crimes can also take the form of “sextortion,” where perpetrators demand money from their victims to keep images secret.

Surveys have shown that 7 percent of British men (1.8 million) have committed online crimes against children, according to the university’s Childlight initiative’s new global index, Into The Light.

That’s equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium twenty times.

“This has reached alarming proportions and in the UK alone would amount to a chain of male offenders stretching from Glasgow to London,” said Paul Stanfield, chief executive of Childlight.

“Child abuse materials are so widespread that cases are reported to regulators and police authorities on average once per second.

“This is a global health pandemic that has remained hidden for far too long. It is occurring in every country, it is spreading exponentially and it requires a global response.

“We need to act urgently and treat it as a public health problem that can be prevented. The children cannot wait.”

The Childlight initiative also found that in the US, one in nine men (that’s almost 14 million) admitted to committing online crimes against children, while in Australia 7.5 percent of men said this.

The investigation also found that many men admitted they would attempt to commit sexual assault on children if they believed it would remain secret.

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Debi Fry, professor of international child protection at the university, said the problem affects children “in every classroom, in every school, in every country”.

She added: “These are not harmless images, they are deeply harmful and the abuse continues with each view, even if this offensive content is not removed.”