IWF celebrates the UNCRC at 30

You can read our previous blog on the anniversary here. 

For 30 years, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has shaped the lives of children across the globe. The convention puts front-and-centre the best interests of the child and encourages all of us to build a world in which every child can flourish and thrive. 

But it can’t survive on its own. For the goals of the convention to be realised, for the world we aspire for to be more than just a fairy tale, we must all help to build it. 

The IWF is committed to building a world in which every child is free from sexual exploitation and users are safe from stumbling across the most haunting images of child sexual abuse. This year, to celebrate the 30th birthday of a treaty which enshrined every child’s right to a childhood, we’re doing more than ever to safeguard the most vulnerable. 

Since the IWF was founded in 1996, known child sexual abuse imagery hosted in the UK has plummeted from 18% to 0.04% in 2018. The UK is now one of the most hostile places to host criminal material in the world. But that isn’t enough. We won’t stop until we’ve eliminated this abuse from every corner of the internet. 

Giving everyone the opportunity to fight child sexual abuse 

Child sexual abuse material is a global problem. Anyone, anywhere in the world, could stumble across it online. That’s why we offer reporting portals in over 27 countries allowing citizens to report this life-ruining content and have it removed.   

The Gambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone are preparing to launch their reporting portals. These portals will empower every single person in these countries to take action – action which could potentially save a child – if they ever stumble across child sexual abuse material online. You can find out more about this here. 

Our portals are funded by a grant awarded by the global Fund to End Violence Against Children. By the end of 2020, we plan to have established portals in 50 countries around the world – showing offenders that there is no safe space to access this abuse.  

Any person in these countries can send a URL, safely and anonymously, to our highly trained analysts. Our analysts will assess the images and videos on that URL and if they’re found be of child sexual abuse content, they will work to have it removed.  

You can find out more about our Reporting Portals here. 

Working in partnership 

We cannot eliminate online child sexual abuse on our own. The IWF is committed to working alongside neighbouring hotlines, governments and NGOs to save victims from having their abuse shared again, and again, and again.  

This week, we’re in Brussels to discuss our important work with MEPs from across the union. 

We’re also attending an event in the European Parliament to celebrate 30 years of commitment to children. Overseen by David Sassoli and Ursula von der Leyen, the presidents of the European Parliament and European Commission respectively, the conference will acknowledge the progress made since 1989 and reflect on the challenges ahead. 

The nature of childhood has changed significantly since the convention was first drawn up 30 years ago, but some things should never change.

The innocence, imagination and joyful curiosity that is intrinsic to childhood, that lights up the room, remains. We cannot let this light be dimmed.