Around the world, criminal activity relating to child sexual exploitation (CSE) continues to increase each year, especially online. In 2022, the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 32 million reports of child sexual abuse material from around the globe. As noted by Crisp’s Global Threat Assessment 2023, that figure represents an 87% increase since 2019. Similarly, the FBI reported an explosion of financial sexual exploitation schemes targeting children and teens. These alarming trends are global. For example, in the UK, online grooming crimes rose more than 80% in recent years.

And nationally representative surveys focused on 13 countries across eastern and southern Africa and Southeast Asia revealed that as many as 20% of children have been subjects of sexual exploitation and abuse in the past year. While the volume of CSE reports has skyrocketed, police funding and resources seem to have remained static, leading to overwhelmed staff, significant case backlogs and fewer prosecutions of CSE crimes. For example, in England and Wales, prosecutions fell by more than 50% between 2016 and 2021, and convictions dropped by 45% over the same period. Similarly, the New York Times recently reported that following the pandemic many police departments are much smaller than in the past, and many of the most experienced officers are resigning earlier due to extreme stress