Become a partner in our mission of building a world where every child is protected and can thrive.
MAKE A DONATION
An Overview of the 2023 Research into Child Sexual Exploitation and the Need for Collective Action
This paper offers a comprehensive overview of some of the current research in the child sexual exploitation (CSE) response ecosystem.
This paper highlights:
The aim of this paper is to serves as a central resource for policymakers, practitioners, and advocates, emphasising collaborative action and robust responses to protect vulnerable children.
It’s free to download, and available here.
The ways offenders abuse and harm children online is constantly changing. Those working to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation have reported a significant increase in ‘Sextortion’. This is where offenders manipulate children into producing sexualised content and then use it as a form of blackmail to extort more abuse content or money.
As we navigate the response to child sexual exploitation, understanding the different ways offenders harm children is vital. Sexual extortion is now the number one issue for online child sex crime fighters.
This downloadable resource has been constructed using research and findings from the Australian Federal Police, the eSafety Commissioner, and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.
The Children in the Pictures is a groundbreaking documentary that was released in 2022. With an accompanying podcast that delves even deeper, the film centres on the vital work of victim identification investigators in fighting this crime.
Focusing on the Queensland Police Service’s Taskforce Argos, The Children in the Pictures series is an incredibly important watch, and listen, for us all – whether you work directly in child protection or not.
The sexual exploitation of children is an insidious crime which harms far too many children. It’s historically a topic of conversation that most of society is too confronted by and would rather avoid discussing. In order to shift the dial we have a responsibility to encourage constructive public discourse about this serious crime.
Sexual exploitation and abuse irrevocably harms children. And there is often a misconception that when there is an online aspect to the abuse, it reduces the seriousness of the crime. Each image and video harms a child, and the majority of child sexual abuse material found online involves the physical abuse of a child.
Download this ICMEC Australia resource for a general overview of this crime and key statistics.
For National Child Protection Week 2023, ICMEC Australia recognised the tireless work of all sectors of the response community in a content series released via LinkedIn that highlights a new book, Saving Our Kids, by award-winning journalist Madonna King. This book, featuring several of the ICMEC Australia team, is fast becoming essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the dangers faced by children in their lives, and how we can better respond.
These five resources are a useful summary of this complex crime and how to work collaboratively, across industries, to protect children from abuse and exploitation.
National Child Protection Week takes place in the first week of September in Australia. A NAPCAN initiative, this week reminds us that every child deserves a safe childhood – and that cross-industry collaboration is vital to this conclusion.
Madonna King’s new book, ‘Saving Our Kids’ was written in collaboration with ICMEC Australia Board Member Jon Rouse APM, and emphasises the importance of a collaborative response to child sexual exploitation and saving children from harm. During 2023’s National Child Protection Week, ICMEC Australia created a series of resources that highlight this important book, our partners working to protect children from the horrible crime of sexual abuse and exploitation, and how we can all contribute to protecting children.
These resources are available for free download, and include:
Every child deserves to grow up free from abuse and exploitation.
We all have a role to play when it comes to protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. As a response community, and a society in general, one of the easiest ways that we can contribute to creating better and safer outcomes for children is by using consistent and correct language.
The words that we use matter.
Whoever you are, we can work together to help make the world a safer place for children by supporting victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation by engaging in meaningful public discourse with the appropriate terminology. The Luxembourg Guidelines ‘for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse’ were developed in 2016, and set a global standard for the correct language to use when discussing this heinous crime.
Using victim-centric, trauma-informed language helps create a safe environment for children to report abuse, and remove the stigma that has surrounded this crime for too long.
ICMEC Australia has created a summary of the Luxembourg Guidelines for reference on the right terminology to use when discussing this crime.
In the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, It’s A Penalty launched their 2023 #KeepKidsSafe Campaign to help raise awareness of child abuse and exploitation, especially in a sporting context.
In support of this campaign, ICMEC Australia hosted the It’s a Penalty #KeepKidsSafe Launch event on 6th July 2023. The event featured an expert panel discussing the challenges our society faces navigating our response to child sexual exploitation online, in businesses in our communities.
Our special guest speakers discussed how this issue is prevalent in so many different areas of our lives, and what we can all do to help keep children safe. Find the recording of the event below.
Visit the It’s A Penalty website to find our more about their meaningful work, and the #KeepKidsSafe campaign.
After her informative presentation at our first Monthly Brown Bag session, we sat down with Dr Kerry McCallum to expand on her research into media reporting on child sexual abuse.
This expert interview paper takes a deeper dive into the influence that media discourse can have on public perception and awareness of child sexual abuse and exploitation, and how it can affect victim-survivors.
Since our event in February, Dr McCallum and her team at the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra have published the Media Guidelines for reporting on child sexual abuse, commissioned by the National Office for Child Safety (NOCS), which you can find here.
Download a copy of this examination into news reporting, public perception, awareness, and how the response community can contribute to better outcomes for children.
The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is a horrific crime that requires a strong legislative response. The difficulties that exist in detecting, reporting, prosecuting, and ultimately preventing, child sexual exploitation cannot be tackled by one institution alone – collaboration between key industry partners is critical to yield the most comprehensive protection of children.
Our discussion paper, “The intersection between child protection and Australia’s legislative landscape”, examines the current legal response (as at January 2023) to child sexual exploitation and its implications on financial institutions’ ability to report suspicious activity.
ICMEC Australia acknowledges Traditional Owners throughout Australia and their continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and Elders past and present.
