Project report

Open Letter: Protect Children’s Online Safety in Europe

emmab · 3 Feb 2026

Abstract

Dear decision-makers, We, 109 signatories, urge you to put children’s online safety first and pass robust legislation to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation across Europe. The EU has a critical opportunity to be a world leader in protecting children online, but continued inaction and lack of ambition means Europe persists as a safe haven for perpetrators. Without strong laws, Europe will leave millions of children unprotected on online platforms and allow imagery of their abuse to circulate indefinitely online. For more than three years, EU leaders have debated the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) – a law designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. In that time, Europe’s child sexual abuse crisis has escalated dramatically: reports of grooming, sexual extortion and AI-generated child abuse material have risen exponentially across Europe. We are deeply concerned that efforts to protect children from sexual exploitation and repeated victimisation have been derailed by a campaign built on misinformation about the technologies involved, alongside a refusal to acknowledge the scale and nature of the harm this regulation is intended to address. In Europe, more than three in five parents think that politicians and technology companies are not taking children’s online safety seriously enough. 4 in 5 EU citizens support requiring online service providers to detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse online. The CSAR is an essential step toward ensuring stronger protection for children against sexual abuse. You have an opportunity to establish Europe as a global champion for children’s online safety. We urge you to advance an effective, comprehensive and ambitious text. Europe has both the potential and responsibility to lead by example. Privacy and child protection are compatible. Children have the right not to have their bodily privacy violated, abused, and shared endlessly online. Every user has the right not to encounter traumatic and degrading pictures and videos of children being sexually abused. The solution is within your power. We call on you, as our elected representatives, to act with ambition, put children first, and ensure a robust CSAR is promptly adopted. Together we can end the child sexual abuse crisis and protect children from further harm. SIGNED “Hope For Children” CRC Policy Center AFEM Albanian National Child Helpline – ALO 116 111 Alliance for the Rights of the Child Andrew Briercliffe, Child Safety Online Andrew Campling, 419 Consulting Ltd. APEM – Associação Portuguesa de Estudos sobre as Mulheres Ariel Foundation International Asociace Dítě a Rodina, z.s. Associação P de Potência Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family Austrian Network for Children´s Rights Awel Bernhard Geiser Børns Vilkår Brave France Breza Association, Croatia CAMELEON Association Camille Cooper Catherine Brown Centar za nestalu i zlostavljanu djecu – CNZD Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Serbia Centrs Dardedze Child Focus Child Helpline International Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute Childnet International Childproof/CIPOF Children in Scotland ChildX COFACE CONCORDIA Social Projects CRCA-ECPAT Albania CTV Production CyberSafeKids Defence for Children – ECPAT Netherlands Dr Carmen Kealy Dr Danielle Kennan Dr Inguna Ebela Dr. Lucija Vejmelka ECPAT Austria ECPAT France ECPAT Germany ECPAT International ECPAT Norway ECPAT Sweden eLiberare ELIEN REBIRTH EOS – Associação de Estudos, Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Erikshjälpen (ERIKS Development Partner) Estonian Union for Child Welfare ÉTHÉLIOS Eurochild FICE Croatia First Children’s Embassy in the World MEGJASHI Fondation pour l’Enfance Fondazione S.O.S. Il Telefono Azzurro ETS Free a Girl Netherlands FUNDACION ANAR Giada Coffari Hintalovon Foundation-ECPAT Hungary Hrabi Telefon IFSW Europe Instituto de Apoio à Criança International Child Development Initiatives – ICDI International Justice Mission Deutschland International Justice Mission Netherlands International Justice Mission Inc. Internet Safe Kids Africa Internet Watch Foundation ISPCC Italian Coordination of the European Women’s Lobby John Carr OBE Kék Vonal Child Crisis Foundation Kids of Ukraine Charity Fund kjt Latvian Child Welfare Network Latvian Protect the Children Les Ami(e)s de Romy Linka detskej istoty / Child Safety Line Slovakia Lobby Europeo de Mujeres en España Marie Collins Foundation Missing Children Europe Mulher Século XXI – Associação de Desenvolvimento e Apoio às Mulheres Myriam Hunfeld Netsweeper Inc. Network for Children’s Rights (Greece) NGO Dignity Online Nick Newman OKAJU (Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents) Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children (PCCPWC) Plataforma Portuguesa para os Direitos das Mulheres (PpDM) / Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights Pressley Ridge Hungary Foundation Protect Children Qoria Save the Children SHIELD – APS SISTERS – for the exit from prostitution! e.V. South West Grid for Learning / UK Safer Internet Centre Stichting De Kindertelefoon Stiftung Digitale Chancen Terre des Hommes Netherlands The Brave Movement The Smile of the Child Thorn Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health VSE WeProtect Global Alliance YYouth The post Open Letter: Protect Children’s Online Safety in Europe appeared first on ECPAT.