Childhood Is in Our Hands: Why Global Leadership on Ending Violence Against Children Must Be Protected
Every year, more than 1 billion children experience violence. Behind this number are children facing abuse, exploitation, online violence, corporal punishment, and violence in their homes, schools and communities. Violence against children is not inevitable. It is certainly preventable when there are strong leadership, accountability, sustained investment, and coordinated action across sectors. At Child Helpline […]
Why Child Helplines Are at the Heart of the PoP Principles
When a child is unsafe at home, online spaces may be the only place to ask for help. That sentence should stop all of us in our tracks. For millions of children around the world, the internet is not simply a space for entertainment, education or social connection. It is sometimes the only doorway to safety. The […]
Out of the shadows: child helplines are integral to the prevention and response to child sexual abuse and exploitation
Together for Girls has launched a new edition of the Out of the Shadows Index, which measures country progress in preventing and responding to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). The inclusion of an indicator on the Availability of a Helpline (Indicator 2.5) is a meaningful recognition of the critical role child helplines play in […]
EU Agrees to Ban AI Nudifying Tools and AI-Generated CSAM
A reflection on this major step forward
After intense and sustained advocacy by child rights organisations, the European Union agreed last week to ban AI systems that can nudify or are capable of generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The agreement marks an important milestone in recognising the harms posed by AI systems that can generate sexual content, particularly for children and young […]
Joint Statement on the End of EU Legal Basis to Detect CSA
Europe is switching its detection of child sexual abuse online off BRUSSELS – Because of political gridlock, from 3 April 2026, online service providers in the European Union will no longer be able to detect child sexual abuse material on their platforms. A letter signed by over 245 organisations working to advance children’s rights and […]
We Can Still Turn the Tide on Digital Harms
Yesterday, Meta and YouTube were found liable for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed. The tech companies were found to be negligent and to have failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products. This landmark jury verdict in the United States marks […]
Legal Uncertainty on CSAM Detection: What the EU’s Delay Means for Child Protection
On Monday, EU countries and lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on extending the interim derogation that allows online platforms to voluntarily detect and remove child sexual abuse material. Back when the e-Privacy Regulation was negotiated, EU policy-makers already saw the value of proactive detection to prevent the dissemination of child sexual abuse online. This […]
Every Call Matters: Why Child Helplines Are Critical for Protecting Children
This week in Geneva, Child Helpline International (CHI) co-hosted a side event at the UN Human Rights Council with the Permanent Mission of Iceland to the United Nations in Geneva, exploring a question that sits at the heart of our work: how can we strengthen child protection systems so that every child who reaches out for help receives a timely, […]
EU Action Plan on Cyberbullying: A Timely Step to Protect Children Online
Last month, the European Commission launched the EU Action Plan Against Cyberbullying, committing to review digital legislation to better address this issue. This initiative is extremely timely, as European child helplines recorded an average of 216 contacts per day related to bullying in 2024 alone. And it is only getting worse, often overlapping with other […]
Strengthening Trust Through Data: Why the Better Deal for Data Matters for Child Helplines
As Senior Manager for Data & Research at Child Helpline International, I work with aggregated data from our global network of child helplines. The insights they provide help us identify emerging trends, better understand the risks children and young people are facing, and strengthen our advocacy at national, regional and international levels. Behind every data point is a real child. The information we […]