Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a global health pandemic. It occurs in every country and is global in nature. However, this is a hidden pandemic, one that has been ignored and pushed to the side for far too long because the reality is often too difficult to contemplate.
The Into the Light Index, the world’s first estimate of the scale of this haunting problem, is a preliminary attempt to produce a global picture based on what Childlight researchers have been able to discover in partnership with others leading the fields of data, law enforcement and safeguarding. Whilst many gaps and inconsistencies remain, it provides a baseline by which we can measure the sector’s progress in understanding the true scale and nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse. As the data improves and we build our knowledge, we expect to provide more reliable country-by-country estimates and expand into other areas of child sexual exploitation and abuse, both online and offline.
This Index is intended to drive research that enhances our knowledge and understanding of the problem. More importantly, it is intended to have impact by raising awareness and providing frontline workers, policymakers and governments information by which they can make better informed decisions on safeguarding children globally from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Their assessment that at least 300 million children per year are subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse must serve as a wake-up call. So too our evidence that as many as one in nine men in parts of the world have sexually offended online against children – and that many would also go on to commit sexual contact offences with children if they believed it could be kept secret.
