The Duchess of Edinburgh's speech on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Members of Parliament, Minister, Commissioner, Ambassadors, honoured guests; may I begin by thanking Honourable Member Chinnici for her kind introduction and the Intergroup on Children’s Rights for welcoming me here at the European Parliament as together we find solutions to protect our children; both online and in our communities.

The last time I addressed policymakers here in Brussels was in 2021 when sadly, the world was already far behind the curve in generating the tools needed to prevent the explosion in the abuse of children online.

Today children everywhere in the world are not only falling victim to adults wishing to groom them but are exposed to an enormous amount of dangerous, harmful and inappropriate content including materials on suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, violence, and pornography, all with consequences which can prove devastating, and can even lead to them taking their own lives.

The Global Child Safety Institute – known as Childlight and hosted by the University of Edinburgh - estimates that over 300 million children have been affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse in the last year. I am going to say that again – 300 million children. Their research suggests that 1 in 8 children globally have been subjected to online solicitation within the last year.

Furthermore, of a cohort of more than 600 young women and girls aged 13-24 across nine countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, Plan International found that one in 10 (11%) reported having harmful online experiences daily or almost daily, with almost 40% reporting they were being harassed at least once a month.

In the UK, more than 7,000 ‘sexual communications with a child’ offences were documented by the police in the recording year 2023/2024 - this represents an increase of 89% since recording year 2017/18 when the offence first came into force. And over 40,000 child sexual abuse image crimes were logged by police forces in the last recording year in England and Wales, an average of more than 100 per day.

Exploitation and abuse is both transnational and is witnessed across Europe and around the world. And these statistics I mention today only paint part of the picture of what children are facing.

As I speak, AI is being used to generate hyper-realistic child sexual abuse imagery at scale. The Internet Watch Foundation has reported that on some forums on the dark web, thousands of AI- generated images have been found.

79% of teenagers are already using Generative-AI for learning, which obviously can be beneficial, but they are also receiving misleading or dangerous information from chatbots on topics including mental health, suicide and grooming.

We also know that the digital environment can facilitate offline abuse as perpetrators use online platforms to groom and exploit children, leading to physical abuse in our communities.

This underlines the corrosive impact of online abuse and scale of the challenge we face in tackling it. It is a challenge we need to tackle urgently, particularly given the emergence of Generative AI.

But we must also not lose sight of the fact that significant child sexual exploitation and abuse continues within households, in education and sporting settings, and across our communities around the world.

We have made important strides but as the threat evolves, we must do so as well.

In the UK, the introduction of the Online Safety Act in 2023 placed new duties on social media companies to protect users – particularly children - against illegal and harmful content. But neither the UK’s government, nor that of any one country can do it alone. And I know there are wider developments across other jurisdictions and at intergovernmental levels, and an effective international response is vital because child sexual exploitation and abuse is a crime that knows no borders. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the online world, where new types of offending are emerging and where the child, who is the victim, can be based in one country, an offender in another, and the online platform hosted by a company based in a third jurisdiction.

Technology companies are in a uniquely powerful position to promote positive change; in developing services which are safe by design; and being proactive in addressing child online harm with safety features built in at the outset. Research from the UK based National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children also known as the NSPCC; a charity that is dedicated to the protection of children in all aspects of society, has found various possible solutions to the issues being faced on AI, but as I just mentioned, it will take a collective effort by all, including Governments, technology companies, regulators and legislators, civil society and law enforcement to make it happen.

Additionally, we know that consumers want child safety to be a priority. Research by the NSPCC showed that the UK public expects improvements in digital products and services for children. 70% of adults think that companies prioritising online safety are more trustworthy and 60% are willing to pay a premium for products and services with strong child safety measures.

Finally, we must listen to the young people themselves who, I know, are keen to be the architects of their futures. By understanding how and why they interact online and amongst their community, it will help shape our response.

Honoured guests – it is in your hands, a task of the utmost and urgent importance, because the lives and futures of millions of children around the world will be affected by what you decide, or do not decide to do. Therefore I implore you now, on behalf of the children of today and tomorrow, to redouble your efforts in prioritising their safety and well-being so that they are empowered to learn, to play, to grow and to thrive in our world.

Thank you.