We need to talk to our children about online sexual exploitation

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Opinion: Let’s talk about the risks often and repeatedly with the children in our lives and develop online safety plans with them

Published on November 4, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minutes reading

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According to the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, one in eight children has been a victim of online child sexual exploitation in the past year, while Statistics Canada reports that offenses in Canada have more than tripled in the past decade. Getty Images Photo by doble-d doble-d /Getty Images/iStockphoto

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Last month, Mama Fatima Singhateh – the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children – gave a speech poignant message in the context of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Singhateh said the issue of children in online spaces can never be talked about enough due to the beneficial role technology plays in our daily lives, but she warned that technology is also being misused to sexually exploit, extort and abuse children .

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