ECLAG Open Letter: Protect Children’s Online Safety in Europe
- Protect Children
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
OPEN LETTER
Protect Children, as a member of ECLAG (Ending Child Sexual Abuse Group), have signed an open letter below calling for the EU to protect children online and adopt the EU Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR). With the interinstitutional negotiations ongoing, it is a critical moment to ensure that children's rights, safety, and protection remain firmly at the centre of the political debate.
Dear decision-makers,
We, 109 signatories, urge you to put children’s online safety first and pass robust legislation to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation across Europe.
The EU has a critical opportunity to be a world leader in protecting children online, but continued inaction and lack of ambition means Europe persists as a safe haven for perpetrators. Without strong laws, Europe will leave millions of children unprotected on online platforms and allow imagery of their abuse to circulate indefinitely online.
For more than three years, EU leaders have debated the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) – a law designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. In that time, Europe’s child sexual abuse crisis has escalated dramatically: reports of grooming, sexual extortion and AI-generated child abuse material have risen exponentially across Europe.
We are deeply concerned that efforts to protect children from sexual exploitation and repeated victimisation have been derailed by a campaign built on misinformation about the technologies involved, alongside a refusal to acknowledge the scale and nature of the harm this regulation is intended to address.
In Europe, more than three in five parents think that politicians and technology companies are not taking children’s online safety seriously enough. 4 in 5 EU citizens support requiring online service providers to detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse online. The CSAR is an essential step toward ensuring stronger protection for children against sexual abuse.
You have an opportunity to establish Europe as a global champion for children’s online safety. We urge you to advance an effective, comprehensive and ambitious text. Europe has both the potential and responsibility to lead by example.
Privacy and child protection are compatible. Children have the right not to have their bodily privacy violated, abused, and shared endlessly online. Every user has the right not to encounter traumatic and degrading pictures and videos of children being sexually abused. The solution is within your power.
We call on you, as our elected representatives, to act with ambition, put children first, and ensure a robust CSAR is promptly adopted. Together we can end the child sexual abuse crisis and protect children from further harm.
SIGNED
"Hope For Children" CRC Policy Center
AFEM
Albanian National Child Helpline - ALO 116 111
Alliance for the Rights of the Child
Andrew Briercliffe, Child Safety Online
Andrew Campling, 419 Consulting Ltd.
APEM - Associação Portuguesa de Estudos sobre as Mulheres
Ariel Foundation International
Asociace Dítě a Rodina, z.s.
Associação P de Potência
Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family
Austrian Network for Children´s Rights
Awel
Bernhard Geiser
Børns Vilkår
Brave France
Breza Association, Croatia
CAMELEON Association
Camille Cooper
Catherine Brown
Centar za nestalu i zlostavljanu djecu - CNZD
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Serbia
Centrs Dardedze
Child Focus
Child Helpline International
Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute
Childnet International
Childproof/CIPOF
Children in Scotland
ChildX
COFACE
CONCORDIA Social Projects
CRCA-ECPAT Albania
CTV Production
CyberSafeKids
Defence for Children - ECPAT Netherlands
Dr Carmen Kealy
Dr Danielle Kennan
Dr Inguna Ebela
Dr. Lucija Vejmelka
ECPAT Austria
ECPAT France
ECPAT Germany
ECPAT International
ECPAT Norway
ECPAT Sweden
eLiberare
ELIEN REBIRTH
EOS - Associação de Estudos, Cooperação e Desenvolvimento
Erikshjälpen (ERIKS Development Partner)
Estonian Union for Child Welfare
ÉTHÉLIOS
Eurochild
FICE Croatia
First Children's Embassy in the World MEGJASHI
Fondation pour l’Enfance
Fondazione S.O.S. Il Telefono Azzurro ETS
Free a Girl Netherlands
FUNDACION ANAR
Giada Coffari
Hintalovon Foundation-ECPAT Hungary
Hrabi Telefon
IFSW Europe
Instituto de Apoio à Criança
International Child Development Initiatives - ICDI
International Justice Mission Deutschland
International Justice Mission Netherlands
International Justice Mission Inc.
Internet Safe Kids Africa
Internet Watch Foundation
ISPCC
Italian Coordination of the European Women's Lobby
John Carr OBE
Kék Vonal Child Crisis Foundation
Kids of Ukraine Charity Fund
kjt
Latvian Child Welfare Network
Latvian Protect the Children
Les Ami(e)s de Romy
Linka detskej istoty / Child Safety Line Slovakia
Lobby Europeo de Mujeres en España
Marie Collins Foundation
Missing Children Europe
Mulher Século XXI - Associação de Desenvolvimento e Apoio às Mulheres
Myriam Hunfeld
Netsweeper Inc.
Network for Children’s Rights (Greece)
NGO Dignity Online
Nick Newman
OKAJU (Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents)
Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children (PCCPWC)
Plataforma Portuguesa para os Direitos das Mulheres (PpDM) / Portuguese Platform for Women's Rights
Pressley Ridge Hungary Foundation
Protect Children
Qoria
Save the Children
SHIELD - APS
SISTERS - for the exit from prostitution! e.V.
South West Grid for Learning / UK Safer Internet Centre
Stichting De Kindertelefoon
Stiftung Digitale Chancen
Terre des Hommes Netherlands
The Brave Movement
The Smile of the Child
Thorn
Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health
VSE
WeProtect Global Alliance
YYouth
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