Wrapping up 2023 with our most meaningful events of the year!
- Protect Children
- Dec 29, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 11, 2024
BLOG POST
Happy New Year to everyone!
The year 2023 is coming to an end and we would like you to join us in this summary of what has been a great year for Protect Children!
January 2023
We started the year participating in Educa Fair 2023, Finland’s leading event for the education and training sector.
In Educa, we distributed resources and materials for children and young people about digital safety, emotional regulation, and other useful skills for keeping children safe in their everyday activities, including new #MyFriendToo posters and #TunteetPeliin board games.
All our team joined Educa, and it was such a great experience that we are happy to be joining next edition, 26-27.1.2024!
All our materials can be downloaded free of charge here.
February 2023
In February, we published a new ReDirection research report with unprecedented findings on Russian speaking respondents to our surveys of CSAM users in the dark web.
This research report contains a contextual background to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and provides invaluable information to enhance global child protection efforts and strengthen the fight to protect children from sexual violence.
The ReDirection project is funded by the Safe Online Initiative at End Violence.
We were invited to share the research results of this ReDirection Report at the Operational Meeting of the INTERPOL Specialists Group on Crimes Against Children, that took place in Lyon, France, 6 – 9 March 2023.
March 2023
The third month of the year was exciting for us since we launched our EU funded project 2KNOW, together with the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the University of Eastern Finland.
Project 2KNOW’s aim is to support and improve national and international data collection on violence against children by developing a sustainable and replicable data collection model that is suited to gathering information about online sexual violence against children.
This project’s kick-off event was celebrated on 13-14 March 2024 at Protect Children’s office in Helsinki.
On 17 March 2023, we organised a roundtable discussion for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and politicians ‘How do we protect children from sexual violence?’.
In this event, survivors and representatives of the Finnish parliamentary parties came together to discuss the need for changes at the national level to protect children from sexual violence.
This event was part of the Justice Initiative project. Protect Children leads the Nordic Hub of the Justice Initiative, coordinating the work across the Nordic countries, strongly amplifying the voices and wisdom of survivors of sexual abuse at an international level.
In March, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen visited the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Vaaranen-Valkonen gave one lecture on ‘Analyzing CSAM Tips & tools to prevent vicarious traumas’ and presented our invaluable research and Protect Children’s holistic evidence-based approach.
April 2023
In April, we launched Primary Prevention to Protect Children project.
Prevention to Protect is a research project on the prevention of sexual crimes against children, funded by the Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund. In this project, we focus on enhancing help-seeking behaviour of individuals who view child sexual abuse material and investigating tech pathways of CSAM users from the open web to anonymous, encrypted platforms.
Based on the research results, we will provide technology companies with evidence-based and actionable recommendations to prevent sexual violence against children. Stay tuned! The research results will be published in the beginning of 2024.
In collaboration with Fun Academy, we published ‘The Kip Crew Learns About Body Boundaries’, an activity booklet for children aged 4-9 years which story and activities give an opportunity for children to think about body boundaries.
The activity booklet is available in 5 languages: English, Finnish, Norwegian, Albanian and Romanian, with more translations to come.
May 2023
On 12 May 2023, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen joined the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) event at EUROPOL in The Hague, Netherlands.
On the 23 and 24 May, our Executive Director, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen, Deputy Director, Legal Specialist, Anna Ovaska, and Head of Research, Tegan Insoll joined the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER) annual conference: ‘PIER: Tackling online harms – A whole system response’ and shared the latest ReDirection project results.
On 27 May, we launched ‘SHAME – European Stories’ photo and video exhibition! This exhibition was organised as part of the Justice Initiative project and presented portraits of nearly 100 victims of childhood sexual violence documented by award-winning journalist Simone Padovani throughout Europe.
The exhibition was open for public in the Mall of Tripla from 27th of May until 2 of June 2023.
June 2023
In June, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen participated in the UNODC Expert Group Meeting in Vienna, focused on the removal of child sexual abuse material from the internet.
In this event, Vaaranen-Valkonen spoke about our work in Project Arachnid, an innovative tool developed by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to combat CSAM on the internet. Protect Children’s analysts have analysed 1,567,952 CSAM images since 2020. Our significant work has directly contributed to the delivery of more than 1,288,000 removal notices being sent to electronic service providers in Finland and abroad.
On 30 June 2023, we launched recruitment for our Project BRIDGE to evaluate two anonymous online programs for people who are concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviours involving children, and people who view child sexual abuse material. The recruitment lasts from 30 June to 30 July 2023 and from 11 September 2023 to 21 April 2024.
July 2023
In July, we had more exciting news! Scharliina Eräpuro joined Protect Children as our Ambassador!
Scharliina is a strong advocate for children's right to be safe from all forms of sexual violence, also advocating for the rights of survivors. Scharliina has founded the Little Girl Project, which has at its core bringing knowledge, justice, change and support to our society regarding child abuse.
As an ambassador for Protect Children, Scharliina helps the organization to amplify the voices and wisdom of survivors of childhood sexual violence to achieve social and legislative change. "Together with Protect Children we want to bring light to the darkness in our society" says Scharliina Eräpuro.
In July, we began the data collection of ‘Our Voice’ survey for survivors of sexual violence in childhood. From July until December 2023, we have collected more than 2,400 responses!
The survey is directed at individuals over the age of 18 who have been victims of childhood sexual abuse. The primary aim of the survey is to raise the long-silenced voices and wisdom of those directly affected by any form of child sexual abuse and/or exploitation.
The global ‘Our Voice’ survivor survey is currently available in 15 languages: Albanian, Croatian, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, and Swedish.
You can partake in the survey or help spread the word by sharing the link: www.ourvoicesurvey.com
August 2023
In August, we published another ReDirection report in collaboration with Red PaPaz: ‘Spanish Speaking CSAM Users in the Dark Web: Findings from Spanish Language Respondents to ReDirection Surveys of CSAM Users in the Dark Web’.
This report analysed data gathered from 2,769 Spanish-speaking respondents.
September 2023
On the 4th of September we conducted the third ReDirection International Expert Webinar.
In the Webinar, International Experts shared the latest developments in research and prevention of online sexual violence against children.
This ReDirection Webinar edition's program included the participation of the following experts: Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen (Suojellaan Lapsia, Protect Children ry), Miguel García Egido (End Violence), Tegan Insoll (Suojellaan Lapsia, Protect Children ry), Valeriia Soloveva, (Suojellaan Lapsia, Protect Children ry), Antonio Labrador Jiménez (European Commission), Dr Madeleine van der Bruggen (National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children), Katarzyna Staciwa (National Research Institute), Dr Sarah Napier (Australian Institute of Criminology), Simon Bailey (Policing Institute for the Eastern Region).
If you are an expert working in the field and were not able to join this ReDirection webinar, please contact us for more information.
On the 14th of September, we hosted a high-level seminar on the prevention of online crimes of sexual violence against children, targeting Finnish duty bearers.
The seminar, which focused on the EU proposal to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, was opened by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. We heard expert presentations from Protect Children Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) Dan Sexton, ECPAT Sverige Susanna Pettersson, INTERPOL Marko Levonen, the National Police Board of Finland Kimmo Ulkuniemi as well as the Finnish Ministry of Justice, Pekka Vasara.
The takeaway of the event was clear - we need stronger regulation to protect children from all forms of sexual violence.
On 19 September 2023, our Executive Director, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen and Head of Advocacy, Matilda Sandvik, together with Protect Children’s Ambassador, Scharliina Eräpuro, joined the European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group (ECLAG) Day of Action of the ‘Child Safety On!’ campaign.
Protect Children team, together with leading child protection organizations globally, advocated for change in the European Parliament, and urged the EU decision makers to vote in favour of the proposal to stop online child sexual abuse.
On September 24-27, 2023, our Executive Director, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen and Head of Research, Tegan Insoll joined the 2023 the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN) Congress to hear the latest research updates from world leading scholars on ‘Advancements in Data and Solutions for Tackling Child Abuse’ and share the results of our 2KNOW and ReDirection projects.
On 27 September 2023, our Deputy Director, Anna Ovaska visited San Francisco to join the event organized by Tech Coalition and Safe Online, in partnership with Google, to ‘Support Tech and Research in Online Child Safety’. In this event, Ovaska shared Protect Children’s latest research results.
We published the report ‘‘Chat to a specialist’: Evaluation of the RDChat – an anonymous chat function of the ReDirection Self-Help Program to stop viewing child sexual abuse material’.
This report lays out key findings from a 10-month pilot of the RDChat, an anonymous chat function added to the ReDirection Self-Help Program to motivate users towards positive behavioural change.
Finally, we published preliminary findings from our latest research on undetected CSAM users in the dark web, which revealed the alarming prevalence of child sexual abuse material on the surface web.
The results uncover the widespread use of social media, instant messenger, and pornography platforms for viewing and sharing CSAM, as well as directly contacting children.
October 2023
This Autumn, our Executive Director, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen conducted a training in CEPOL ‘Supporting the First Responders on Child Sexual Abuse cases’ and trained law enforcement in Central Finland Police Department, National Bureu of Investigation in Finland, and INTERPOL. The training focused on maintaining work well-being when investigating crimes of sexual violence against children. Furthermore, Vaaranen-Valkonen joined the Webinar 3033/2022: Europol – Analysis Project Twins at Europol as a cognitive trauma psychotherapist.
Protect Children also offers training and consultation on the protection of children from sexual violence in all environments for professionals working with children, authorities, teachers, and parents.
In October, we started You are Enough peer-support group 7 for parents and families of child victims of sexual violence.
The goal of the groups is to strengthen the ability of parents and guardians to support their child during lengthy criminal proceedings. Parents and guardians have the opportunity to share experiences, thoughts and feelings in a safe and confidential space with others who find themselves in similar life situations.
We offer 3 different types of groups: intrafamilial, extrafamilial and online crimes, and in 2023 we led 4 You are Enough peer-support groups. These groups are held in Finland and are free of cost for the participants. The meetings are arranged remotely, participants can join from any Finnish region.
In October we published three country-specific statements concerning online child sexual abuse and exploitation in three EU countries (Belgium, France, and Spain), with findings from French and Spanish responses to the ReDirection surveys of individuals who search for and view child sexual abuse material on the dark web.
These statements call for immediate action to tackle sexual violence against children, because of an increase in reports involving CSAM in France and Belgium and recent cases of AI-generated CSAM depicting girls and adolescents in Spain.
November 2023
In November, we published preliminary findings on individuals who search for and view CSAM from Project 2KNOW.
Preliminary findings reveal that most respondents to the survey are young men, aged 18-25. A significant number of CSAM users habitually viewed pornography before searching for CSAM. Half of the respondents are motivated to view CSAM by sexual interest in children. Most say that they search for material depicting children aged 11 to 14 years old. Finally, we found a high prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in the population of anonymous CSAM users.
This month, we also launched the ReDirection video in strong collaboration with Project 2PS.
The video highlights the paramount importance of offender-focused prevention of child sexual abuse and outlines two prevention resources – stepto.support platform (2PS) and the ReDirection Self-Help Program (Protect Children).
In November, Vaaranen-Valkonen visited the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the UK Home Office (HO), the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), where she presented Protect Children’s holistic evidence-based approach to end sexual violence against children and our latest research results.
December 2023
On 6 December 2023, our Executive Director, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen took part in the handing over 540,000 signatures at the European Parliament in favour of the proposed legislation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse and to step up efforts to support survivors. Together with our Ambassador Scharliina Eräpuro, survivors from all EU countries and 39 other child rights organizations, we call for a change in legislation to increase support to survivors and protect children against child sexual abuse, especially online.
Protect Children has led the Justice Initiative work in the Nordic countries, and we have collected 18,100 signatures in Finland alone.
In December, we published the statement ‘Encrypted platforms are quickly becoming a safe haven for child sexual abuse’. Protect Children’s latest research shows that child sexual abusers use encrypted services to contact children. The preliminary findings from our research on undetected CSAM users in the dark web reveals the widespread use of encrypted services and messaging apps to contact children and disseminate child sexual abuse material.
Our last publication of the year was the report ‘Statute of Limitations and Sexual Violence Against Children: Findings from the Global ‘Our Voice’ Survivor Survey with a Case Study on Finnish Survivors’ Experiences’.
This report, published with support from Justice Initiative, explores the experiences of survivors of sexual violence in childhood with disclosure, with a view to informing the reform of laws and regulations concerning the statute of limitations for crimes of sexual violence against children.
Protect Children will continue to do our utmost to ensure that no child is subjected to child sexual abuse and/or exploitation.
Let’s continue our hard work to #ProtectChildren in 2024!
