Duchess of Edinburgh urges ‘collective effort’ to tackle online child abuse

Tackling online child abuse requires a “collective effort by all” including governments and technology companies, the Duchess of Edinburgh has told senior European politicians.

Sophie and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips joined forces to highlight the need to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation online.

They met in Brussels on Wednesday, where European politicians gathered to draw attention to the harms children face in the digital world.

In her role as the patron of the NSPCC and Plan International UK, two charities that are raising awareness about the dangers, the duchess addressed senior European politicians at an event hosted by the European Parliament intergroup on children’s rights.

Delivering the keynote speech, Sophie said: “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.”

More than 300 million children have been affected by online child exploitation and abuse in the past year, she said, citing the Global Child Safety Institute.

The duchess said 79% of teenagers are using generative AI (artificial intelligence) to learn but they also receive “misleading or dangerous information from chatbots on topics including mental health, suicide and grooming”.

“It is a challenge we need to tackle urgently, particularly given the emergence of generative AI”, she added.

She noted the introduction of Britain’s Online Safety Act, but added that “neither the UK’s Government nor that of any one country can do it alone.”

Sophie said the victim, perpetrator and tech company hosting the online platform may all be in different countries, adding that protecting children “will take a collective effort by all, including governments, technology companies, regulators and legislators, civil society and law enforcement”.

Sophie concluded: “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”.

The joint visit between the Royal and a Government minister came amid an uptick in the number of the most extreme images online.

The Internet Watch Foundation, a charity that monitors child sexual abuse images and urges companies and governments to work to remove them, recorded a 22% increase in category A images – its most serious classification – between 2022 and 2023.

This was the worst year on record for child sexual abuse online, according to the IWF.

Ahead of the visit, Ms Phillips, said: “Child sexual abuse is a horrific crime that is impacting more and more children, victims and survivors in all of our communities across the world and the effects can last a lifetime.

“This most devastating of crimes transcends international borders – victims are often exploited in their homes by offenders across the globe using platforms that are headquartered in many different countries.

“It is therefore crucial that we drive forward a global response and improve global capacity to tackle this crime. Enough is enough. We must act now and urgently see strong action from governments, tech, frontline professionals, police and law enforcement.”

Ministers plan to introduce stronger laws to clamp down on online child sexual abuse as part of domestic efforts to tackle its spread.

Measures in the Crime and Policing Bill currently making its way through Parliament will make it illegal to create or own AI tools designed for making child sexual abuse images, among other new offences.