Online child abuse is a 'disease' that must be tackled like Covid, expert claims

Online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) is on a scale akin to Covid and must be tackled like a global pandemic, it is claimed. 

The head of Edinburgh-based global child safety institute Childlight has said the crime "acts like a disease, and that it mutates and adapts to our efforts to stop and prevent it".

Paul Stanfield said: "Our goal is have CSEA treated not simply as a social science or policing issue, but as a public health issue, one that can be prevented and treated."

Stanfield said law enforcement response alone "is not the solution", adding that the scale of the threat is "too great". 

"It requires a more holistic, global approach and demands a level of investment similar to a global pandemic such as Covid. We are therefore calling for it to be treated as a global health pandemic similar to Covid."

Speaking at the International Law Enforcement in a Digital Age summit by Holyrood Events, which is running alongside the INTERPOL general assembly in Glasgow, Stanfield said "current methods globally are simply not enough to protect children".

Professor Alexis Jay, former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, called for a frank public discourse to be created which confronts the reality of the abuses carried out perpetrators. 

Annabel Turner, director of CyberSafe Scotland, said it is difficult to describe "the impact on children and young people" the agency works with: "This is dramatically changing their experiences of childhood."

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson of Police Scotland said the abuse takes place on a "continuum" and, as well as harming individual victims, costs society billions of pounds.

On arguments that the online sharing of child abuse images can be "victimless", Johnson said: "Nothing is victimless."

Jay's report into wide-scale abuse of children in Rotherham recommended the adoption of mandatory reporting of child sexual exploitation and abuse concerns. While there was some support for this from the previous Conservative government, and the Labour Party also expressed support prior to taking office, this reform has not yet been implemented. 

Jay said provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, which fell due to the timing of the general election, were "watered down" and did not go far enough. 

However, she said: "There is an opportunity here for Scotland to do this."