Why India Matters in the Global Fight Against Child Sexual Abuse

Hyderabad: Every year, 300 million children are estimated to face sexual abuse and exploitation facilitated through technology. That’s 10 new cases every second, and these are not abstract numbers. Behind each statistic is a child whose safety, dignity and future have been jeopardised.

Children are contacted on gaming platforms or social media, groomed into trusting abusers or pressured and threatened into sending sexual images. In some cases, they also share images consensually but these are then sent further without the child’s permission. These images and videos can then be shared, sold or used for blackmail.

Disturbingly, artificial intelligence is now increasingly being misused to generate sexual abuse content featuring children. And it is growing at an alarming pace, making the fight against it more urgent than ever.

Yet while the digital threat grabs headlines, it is also vital not to lose sight of older, more hidden forms of harm. Too often, the abuser is not a stranger but someone inside the family home or known to the child – making the betrayal even deeper and the silence harder to break. Sexual abuse by a relative or someone known to the child remains a serious concern and demands urgent attention alongside online threats.

At a ground-breaking conference in Kerala in October, Childlight, a global child safety institute that tracks the scale and nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse, will unveil new research shining a light on the problem – in India, across South Asia and around the world.

Working alongside expert voices from India and around the world at c0c0n, Asia’s largest cybersecurity conference, we will also set out steps to end this pandemic because these problems are preventable, not inevitable. We are honoured to also have the chance around this event, organised by the Kerala Police, to work on a special victim identification operation with more than 20 Indian state police forces. This will detect abuse, apprehend abusers and safeguard children from further harm.

India is central to tackling these global challenges. With one of the largest child populations in the world and rapidly increasing internet usage, the country faces both the risks of large-scale abuse and the opportunity to lead solutions. Already India has taken bold actions. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has provided a strong legal framework. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and schemes like the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children initiative show that India is taking the threat seriously. India has also been a leader across South Asia in capturing and publishing data to help understanding of these crimes.

The c0c0n conference in Kerala in October will highlight how further steps can be taken so that India can set a global example with its actions.

The conference will draw on a wide range of voices – researchers, frontline practitioners, law enforcement, survivors, tech industry experts and policy-makers.

Together, we will explore practical ways to protect children better, from building safer digital platforms to strengthening families and communities where risks are highest.

Our forthcoming research, called the Into the Light Index, will not only highlight the scale of abuse in India and elsewhere in the world. It will also show clearly that the problem is preventable – if nations treat it with the same urgency as a pandemic.

Like COVID-19 or HIV/AIDS, child sexual abuse spreads across borders, thrives on silence and devastates lives. And like those other public health crises, it can be reduced dramatically through coordinated prevention, bold leadership and sustained investment.

India’s growing digital economy, youthful population and global influence give it a chance to be at the forefront of this movement. By strengthening laws further, improving data, resourcing frontline services and working with technology companies to remove abuse material swiftly, the country can lead the way in making children safer.

Child sexual abuse is not inevitable. It is not too vast to tackle. It is a human-made crisis – and that means humans can solve it together with determination and hope.

The article is authored by Paul Stanfield, CEO, Childlight Global Child Safety Institute.