Alexandria, Virginia, USA – Today, on Safer Internet Day, The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) stands with over 100 organizations, institutions and individuals globally to demand urgent action against nudifying tools—technology designed to create non-consensual nude and abusive imagery, disproportionately targeting children and women.

These tools fuel sexual exploitation, extortion, and harm, yet remain widely accessible with impunity. Together with Child Helpline International, INHOPE, the Internet Watch Foundation, NCMEC, Offlimits, Safe Online, and We Protect Global Alliance, we call for: 

• Global recognition of the irreparable harm these tools inflict. 
• Accountability for tech companies to implement safety-by-design protections.
• Legal bans on development, distribution, and use of nudifying apps and functionalities. 

Together, we’re building a safer world for every child.

Read the full statement and recommendations. 

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Key players in Finance and Law Enforcement unite to prevent the misuse of payment systems for Online Child Sexual Exploitation

• The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Freshfields and FTI Consulting have collaborated to bring together their child protection, legal, investigations and financial crime compliance expertise to create a toolkit – the Child Protection Toolkit – that aims to support the global payments industry’s fight against online child sexual exploitation. 

• The Toolkit has been designed in collaboration with, and with the benefit of invaluable support and insights from, banks, money service businesses, electronic payment platforms, law enforcement agencies and regulators around the globe.

• Enforcement and prevention efforts across the industry must aim to keep pace with the growing sophistication and commercialisation of international criminals involved in online child sexual exploitation.

• The Toolkit’s primary goal is to support the financial industry in its efforts to detect, disrupt and deter the use and abuse of the global financial system for online child sexual exploitation.

• The launch of the Toolkit is an important evolutionary step in the ongoing and rapidly evolving fight against online child sexual exploitation. It aims to encourage meaningful change by fostering close, cross-border and cross-sector dialogue and collaboration across the financial industry, recognising that bringing together diverse views and perspectives and unified efforts can result in the greatest impact.  The Toolkit is intended to be a creation that, over time, will be refined through real-life user experience and feedback as market payment systems and technology further evolve.

The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (“ICMEC”), global law firm Freshfields, and crisis and transformation advisory firm FTI Consulting––in collaboration with global financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and regulators around the world––have developed a Child Protection Toolkit to support the financial industry in its efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation facilitated through the international financial system.

The Child Protection Toolkit’s immediate objective is to assist financial institutions—whether global banks, money service businesses, or fintech platforms—in their efforts to detect and prevent money flows that may be connected with online child sexual exploitation.  Successful detection and prevention of illicit money flows, together with related, targeted law enforcement efforts, should make it more difficult for wrongdoers to benefit from their wrongdoing and, over time, deter misconduct.

The Child Protection Toolkit seeks to raise awareness amongst the key players in the market (financial institutions, law enforcers and regulators, amongst others) of online child sexual exploitation, how it arises, how it is commercialised, who the key players are, and the money flows and financial patterns that may be consistent with misconduct, by consolidating key information in one place.

The scale and systemic nature of the problem is stark.  Unlawful activity takes place in a long list of jurisdictions, and no jurisdiction appears to be immune.  In the Philippines alone, for example, a study published in 2023 by the Philippines’ Anti Money Laundering Council suggests that transaction reports related to suspected online child sexual exploitation surged 150-fold between 2018 and 2022, a period that began before the COVID-19 pandemic up to the tail end of that pandemic in 2022.  With the continued rise of digital technologies and virtual assets, the potential for exploitation will only grow—making awareness, unity of purpose, and coordinated action more critical than ever.

Ultimately, financial institutions are critical gateways to, and nodes in, the global financial system.  So, supporting them at the forefront of their efforts to identify and disrupt illicit financial flows is essential to combatting online sexual exploitation of children.  Success, however, depends on strong and consistent collaboration across disciplines and borders.  A close partnership around the world between financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and supporting organisations such as ICMEC, can be a powerful force that hinders the ability of criminals to benefit from such crimes.  The Child Protection Toolkit provides a shared foundation for understanding and action and aims to foster that collaboration and partnership.

While the global community continues to make progress, more can and must be done, and done quickly.  Regulators recognise that money laundering can never be completely prevented and eliminated but expect financial institutions to do everything that they reasonably can towards minimising it.  Every tainted transaction or money flow that is identified, prevented and then reported to law enforcers can potentially make a difference.  Every little bit counts.  One child missing, abused, or exploited is one too many.

We extend our gratitude to the following financial institutions who have provided valuable input during this project and remain valued partners in our efforts towards our common goal: ANZ, Citigroup, Inc, HSBC, Mastercard, PayPal, and Western Union.

We further extend our gratitude to the following law enforcement authorities / regulators who have provided valuable input during the course of this project and remain valued partners in our efforts towards our common goal: AUSTRAC, Australian eSafety Commission, New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, Philippines Anti Money Laundering Council, and Department of Special Investigation, Thailand Ministry of Justice.

Sir Stephen Kavanagh, ICMEC Secretary General, commented:

“The international growth of the finance sector has brought great economic benefits across the world not least by easing the friction involved in international financial transactions.  One unwelcome result has been that the industry has inadvertently made life easier for the perpetrators of international criminal child sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation.  The Child Protection Toolkit aims to give financial institutions around the world the knowhow to fight back against this terrible trade that preys on our young people and exploits the international financial sector to do so.

Child protection is a shared and global responsibility, and we are privileged to partner with Freshfields, FTI Consulting, our finance industry and law enforcement partners to together take action to protect children around the world.  We all stand together against this threat. When we accept responsibility, when we cooperate and agree on a collective response, we know children are safer.”

Georgia Dawson, Senior Partner of Freshfields, added:

“It has been a privilege for us to work with ICMEC and FTI Consulting on such an important project.  In today’s complex world, criminals are increasingly sophisticated and innovative in their efforts to evade the law; and financial institutions find themselves at the frontline of efforts to disrupt that.  The Toolkit aims to be an important weapon for good, by bringing together ICMEC and its supporting organisations, financial institutions and law enforcers so that their efforts can be further aligned and focused, and outcomes magnified.  We look forward to further collaborating with ICMEC and FTI Consulting as this project evolves.”

Roy Huang, Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia & Caribbean of FTI Consulting, added:

“We are proud to have collaborated with ICMEC and Freshfields to develop a comprehensive toolkit and a typology-driven data analytics framework.  By leveraging our subject-matter and technical expertise, we are enabling financial institutions to effectively detect and report suspicious activities, ultimately strengthening their ability to combat the misuse of the financial system in the fight against online sexual exploitation of children.

With criminals constantly finding new ways to circumvent controls, the best defence we have is to continue to be engaged, invested and ready to safeguard the most vulnerable members of our community.  The support we have received from our banking and law enforcement partners has been invaluable and a significant resource in the development of this Child Protection Toolkit.”

Brendan Thomas, AUSTRAC Chief Executive Officer, added:

“Partnerships are critical to the fight against child sexual exploitation.  Financial institutions play an important role in combating child sexual exploitation for financial gain.  Through the development of profiling and transaction monitoring programs, and working in partnership with law enforcement and government agencies, financial institutions are able to target, identify and stop financial transactions associated with the sexual exploitation of children.

AUSTRAC welcomes the development of the Child Protection Toolkit to help educate financial institutions on how to detect and prevent money flows involved with offending, making it harder for child sexual exploitation to take place.  Child sexual exploitation is a heinous crime against some of the most vulnerable members of our community, and requires global responsibility.”

Matthew M. David, Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat, Philippines, Executive Director added:

“The Philippines continues to demonstrate its strong commitment to combating online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) through comprehensive legislation, coordinated inter-agency efforts, and the use of actionable financial intelligence. As the country’s primary financial intelligence unit, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) plays a crucial role in disrupting the illicit financial flows that enable these crimes. In 2023, the AMLC presented findings from its third study on OSAEC-related suspicious transaction reports during two APAC Financial Coalition Forums organized by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), highlighting emerging typologies and financial trends.[1]

We acknowledge with appreciation that the Child Protection Toolkit—developed by ICMEC, Freshfields, and FTI Consulting—includes the AMLC’s study among its references. This timely and practical resource equips financial institutions with tools to detect and prevent activities related to online child sexual exploitation. The AMLC remains fully committed to supporting initiatives that strengthen the financial sector’s role in protecting children from abuse.”

[1] The AMLC study, “Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children in the Philippines: An Evaluation Using Suspicious Transaction Report Data,” was presented at the APAC Regional Forum on 28 September 2023 and 09 November 2023, each attended by distinct domestic and international audiences.

Milan Gigovic, ANZ Executive and Head of Financial Crime Threat Management, added: 

“ANZ believes trusted partnerships with Government, law enforcement and industry peers are essential to strengthening the integrity of the global financial system and protecting children. No single organisation can tackle this issue alone. By working with trusted networks and sharing intelligence, we can collectively detect and disrupt illicit financial flows and make it harder for criminals to exploit children. 

The Child Protection Toolkit reflects years of shared expertise and collaboration across the financial ecosystem and stands as a powerful testament to what can be achieved when diverse sectors unite around a common goal. More than a resource, it is a catalyst for change – providing clear, actionable guidance that helps financial institutions respond with precision and impact and strengthening our collective ability to protect the most vulnerable through coordinated, community-driven responses.”

Mamta Thadani, Senior Manager, Risk Assessment, Financial Crime, Asia, HSBC, added:    

“Organisations such as the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children facilitate cross-industry information-sharing on criminal typologies specific to each geographical region, including evolving risks related to the trafficking and exploitation of adults and children.  The exploitation of children – as well as all forms of human trafficking – have a devastating impact on its victims, their families and the wider community.  As criminals become increasingly sophisticated in concealing the proceeds of their crimes, we too must become smarter and vigilant in detecting those funds, continue to enhance our understanding of trends and typologies, and work with our customers and law enforcement to tackle this scourge on society.”

 Jared Mullen, New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs Director, Digital Safety, added:

“The Department of Internal Affairs supports the implementation of the Child Protection Toolkit.  This is a positive initiative that helps prevent the proliferation of child sexual exploitation material (“CSEM”) and the revictimisation of children.  Given that a significant amount of CSEM is purchased by offenders, improving the ability of the global financial industry to identify offenders and take action to prevent the sale is a welcome step to reducing victimisation and holding offenders to account.”

Khemachart Prakaihongmanee, Director of Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Thailand, added:    

“It has been a great opportunity to collaborate with ICMEC in this project.  Nowadays, we are living in a complex world where the crimes have become more faceted.  It is observed that multi-agency cooperation has become crucial to disrupt the attempts of criminals.  Thus, this toolkit is expected to be a powerful weapon to fight against commercial exploitation of children.  I also would like to assure and continue collaboration with ICMEC for further mutual interest.”

Napol Woraprateep, Child Sexual Exploitation Crime Division, Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Thailand, further added:

“It has been an invaluable experience working with ICMEC on this project.  In today’s increasingly complex world, crime has taken on many new forms, making collaboration across multiple agencies more essential than ever to effectively disrupt criminal activity.  This toolkit is anticipated to serve as a strong tool in the fight against the commercial exploitation of children.  I am also committed to continuing our partnership with ICMEC in pursuit of our shared goals.”

Scott Apodaca, Vice President, Global Financial Intelligence, Western Union, added:      

“At Western Union, we believe that combatting crimes against the most vulnerable among us is a shared responsibility.  We are proud to contribute to the ICMEC’s collaborative toolkit  that equips the financial industry with practical insights and actionable resources and solutions.  By working together and sharing information across public and private sectors, we can improve overall outcomes for children around the world.”

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• An enhanced global child safeguarding resource for the global school community
• Developed with support from the International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) and the U.S. State Department Office of Overseas Schools

The new and improved 2025 ICMEC EdPortal is a global safeguarding resource hub designed for the entire school community — educators, students, families, counsellors, board members, safeguarding leaders, and organisations committed to protecting children everywhere.

The EdPortal has been developed and improved with support from the International Taskforce on Child Protection (ITFCP) and the U.S. State Department Office of Overseas Schools. It provides a free global resource of curated tools to help build safer learning environments — at school, at home, and online.

The EdPortal provides smarter search tools, curated resource lists, improved navigation, all International Taskforce on Child Protection (“ITFCP”) content in one place, a moderated Q&A forum and dozens of new, up-to-date tools for child protection across all environments.

Explore the EdPortal here: https://www.icmec.org/edportal/

Debbie Downes, ICMEC Director of Global School Initiatives, commented:

“EdPortal 2.0 is live! We are so thankful for everyone whose input guided this process. The latest version of the EdPortal is just as rich in resources and much easier to navigate. We added dozens of new resources to keep things current. We hope we’ve made it easy for you to find what you need!”

Stephen Kavanagh, ICMEC’s Secretary General, added:

“ICMEC is proud to be part of a global community committed to protecting children and promoting safe, inclusive schools. The new EdPortal helps members of the school community around the world access resources that will help them more effectively safeguard children. The sharing of accessible knowledge is a key way to help educators in this vital area.”

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The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), a global, nonprofit leader in child protection, and Umanitek AG, a Swiss-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) company combating harmful content and the risks of artificial intelligence, today announce a collaboration in pursuit of better protection of children online and offline using umanitek’s technology and ICMEC’s global network.

Today, many people are concerned about the non-consensual sharing of their personal images or those of their children. The rise of generative AI, while it unlocks significant advancements, also introduces far greater risks, most significantly to our children, such as the potential for easier sharing of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Given the proliferation of generative AI, individuals’ rights are getting more difficult to protect as algorithms use, replicate, and transform online materials without proper oversight or accountability. It is for this reason that ICMEC and umanitek have agreed to join efforts.

As part of the collaboration, organisations interested in enhanced child protection and law enforcement effectiveness will be able to use umanitek’s AI agent, umanitek Guardian. Guardian enables real-time cross-referencing of any content against a decentralised directory of previously labelled content while ensuring data privacy for all parties involved. It achieves this by giving Guardian agent access to the Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG), a trusted network for organising data that allows participating organisations to retain ownership and control of their data while also allowing collaboration without any risk of compromising privacy.

Umanitek and ICMEC have a shared commitment to work together to fight against harmful content and the risks of AI by developing and deploying technology that serves the greater good of humanity.

Stephen Kavanagh, ICMEC Secretary General, commented:

“Child protection is a shared and global responsibility. Over the last two decades, ICMEC has been committed to empowering the global community with the tools, training, and technology to create a safer world for children. With the internet’s rapid rate of evolution and the increase in reliance on artificial intelligence, we must work together as NGOs, governments, private businesses, and law enforcement to use technology for good and to support efforts like this collaboration of ICMEC with umanitek.”

Chris Rynning, umanitek Chairman, commented:

“The scale of the AI challenge demands urgency and collective action. This is too big to go at it alone. That’s why we’re committed to working with those who share our belief that ethical AI must prioritise public safety. Our collaboration with ICMEC will seek to identify gaps in technology that currently exist and aims to fill these gaps with innovative technologies in an effort to protect children from harm both online and offline. In ICMEC, we have found a partner that is focused on tech-for-good. I’m especially grateful to Stephen Kavanagh and the team at ICMEC. With over 30 years in law enforcement and INTERPOL, Stephen has led global efforts against organized crime, cybercrime, and child exploitation. In the end, it’s the people – dedicated, experienced, and mission-driven – who will make the internet safer for all.”

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• 25 years of working to stop child abduction, exploitation, and abuse around the world.
• Focus on collaboration, advocacy, innovation to drive positive systemic change.
• We reached over 120 countries, 168,000 students, 155,000 professionals, over 90 financial institutions, technology companies, law enforcement agencies, regulators, civil society actors and academia.
• 2024 was a year of transition with Stephen Kavanagh appointed Secretary General in February 2025

The new 2024 ICMEC Impact Report aims to highlight some key results of our team’s hard work and the vital contribution of our partners and donors. It also signposts areas for growth in 2025 and beyond. With a new Secretary General joining in February 2025 ICMEC’s focus is expanding impact across the world covering the key areas of Technology, Learning, Community and Advocacy.

In 2024 we trained over 2,600 child protection professionals across more than 30 countries, supported governments in building stronger laws, faster alerts, and safer systems, expanded our CSAM (child sexual abuse material) Reporting Portals to 12 countries giving children a path out of harm. ICMEC has released multilingual tools and survivor-informed publications to support healing and justice, supported legal reforms including Colombia’s Alerta Rosa and is a member of Global partnerships such as the ALUNA Project.

The scale of the child safety crisis ICMEC works to address is highlighted in the Impact report. The findings of Childlight, the child safety institute, show there are 10 cases of online child sexual exploitation and abuse reported every second and that 1 in 8 children globally have been subjected to online solicitation in the last 12 months.

ICMEC seeks to make the world safer for children by engaging public and private sector stakeholders in global and local collective action. Together with these partners we build child protection capacity, raise awareness around missing children and child sexual abuse and exploitation issues, return children to safety and disrupt the misuse of commercial platforms to sexually exploit children.

Further examples of our work in 2024 included:

• Global Reach and Capacity Building: ICMEC programmes and training initiatives reached over 155,000 professionals across 120+ countries, equipping law enforcement, educators, healthcare providers, and child protection specialists with critical skills to identify, prevent, and respond to child exploitation.
• Support for Law Enforcement: Through efforts like Operation Renewed Hope II, conducted with ICE Homeland Securities Investigations, the Tim Tebow Foundation, and 47 partner countries, ICMEC helped support the identification and rescue of 36 child victims of online exploitation and generated over 380 investigative leads for ongoing cases.
• Digital Safety Initiatives: ICMEC launched and expanded educational campaigns, including Choose Your Digital Path in partnership with Save the Children Romania, to enhance digital literacy and empower children to make safer choices online.
• Policy and Advocacy Leadership: ICMEC provided expert input on legislative developments, including model laws for age verification to protect minors online, contributing to stronger protections in jurisdictions across the United States and internationally.
• New Tools and Resources: 2024 saw the development and distribution of new safeguarding resources, including enhancements to the ICMEC Learning Platform and ICMEC EdPortal for schools, families, law enforcement, and communities.
• Research and Publications: ICMEC produced a series of in-depth reports, including multisectoral response and capacity assessments, that offer governments and institutions evidence-based recommendations to strengthen national child protection frameworks.

Read the Impact Report here: https://www.icmec.org/annual-report/

Stephen Kavanagh, ICMEC Secretary General, commented:

“Child protection is a shared and global responsibility. Every successful rescue, every new law, every training delivered is based on cooperation with law enforcement, education professionals, non-profits, commercial enterprises, Governments and other partners. We all stand together on this.

Wherever children are, we know that they become more vulnerable when they go missing or are trafficked, and across the world we know children are forced to live in the darkness of sexual exploitation and abuse.

When we stand together against this threat and act to protect children, when we accept responsibility, when we cooperate and share data responsibly we know children are safer. ICMEC has delivered so much in 2024, but we know there is so much more to do in 2025 and the years to come.” 

Sally Paull, Chair of ICMEC’s Board of Directors, added:

“ICMEC is proud to have achieved a great deal over its first 25 years and the challenge is to do more in future, multiplying our impact. We aim to catalyse work in new countries and address new problems. Whether it be legislation that addresses the challenges of young people’s always-on access to smart phones or working with allies in the financial sector we take knowhow from one area and apply it to another. We continue to use our convening power to bring together coalitions to address problems that are too widespread for any one entity to solve. I am proud of the ICMEC team for what they continue to achieve and for their ambition to protect children, wherever they are in the world.”

About the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC)
ICMEC is a non-governmental organisation working to make the world a safer place for all children by defending against child sexual exploitation, abuse, and the risk of going missing. Headquartered in the United States, ICMEC coordinates with partners around the world to develop research, technologies, and educational resources to aid in the search and recovery of children who are missing, fight child sexual exploitation, and empower caring professionals, institutions, and communities to safeguard children from all forms of sexual abuse. For more information please visit www.icmec.org or contact ICMEC at information@icmec.org or +1-703-837-6313. For media enquiries please contact us at media@icmec.org .

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ALUNA has received funding from the European Union’s Internal Security Fund under grant agreement No 101084929.
The content published herein is the sole responsibility of the publishers, and it does not necessarily represent the views expressed by the European Commission or its services.
You can learn more about the ALUNA project here: www.aluna-isf.eu/

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The collaboration leverages AI-driven, tamper-proof safeguarding technology to set a new standard by prioritizing children’s privacy without compromising protection. The initiative aims to give families greater peace of mind in today’s increasingly connected world.

“Our work with SafeToNet marks a significant step forward in our mission to protect children from online exploitation and harm,” said Sally Paull, Chair of ICMEC’s Board of Directors. “Together, we are strengthening global efforts to help children navigate the digital space more safely.”

In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, the need for immediate, effective measures to protect children online has never been more urgent. ICMEC and SafeToNet are calling on industry leaders and philanthropists to support them in integrating AI-powered safeguarding into the Operating Systems and chip sets so that devices are safe the moment they are switched on, creating a safer online experience for future generations.

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Results in the identification of 110 missing or abused children and the arrest of 8 perpetrators of child abuse and the rescue of 51 children

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA (JULY 2, 2024) — The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), in conjunction with Clearview AI, conducted an international operation from March 4th 2024 through March 8th 2024, resulting in the location and positive identification of 110 previously unknown child sexual abuse victims, resulting in 8 arrests of perpetrators of child sexual abuse, and the rescue of 51 children.

The operation was held in Ecuador and hosted by ICMEC, with Clearview AI providing its facial recognition technology as a main resource. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Perú, and the Dominican Republic were among the international law enforcement agencies who worked together on hundreds of cold cases involving previously unknown victims of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Through the use of specialized technologies and collaborative work between the HSI offices of the countries, the police, the prosecutor’s office and the judges of some of the countries, important results were achieved.

ICMEC and Clearview collaborated with Child Rescue Coalition, Inc., and The Jensen Project for working together within the framework of the Child Digital Guardians Task Force. Collaboration between actors, including civil society and law enforcement, is essential to achieve satisfactory results.

“As we continue to pursue justice for survivors worldwide, our recent operation in Ecuador highlights the importance and transformative impact of collaborative efforts to identify victims. Each identification serves as a beacon of hope, guiding us toward a safer world for vulnerable children. Our success in this operation owes much to the invaluable support of Clearview and the effectiveness of their technology.” said Guillermo Galarza, Vice President, Partnerships & Law Enforcement Training of International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

“It is gratifying for us to be able to assist law enforcement in identifying missing and exploited children,” said Hoan Ton-That, Founder & CEO of Clearview AI. “Clearview AI is committed to continuing our work with law enforcement partners to identify and rescue victims while bringing to justice those criminals who exploit children.”

Law enforcement partners of ICMEC analyzed 2,198 photos and 995 videos from 74 confiscated devices related to child exploitation cases. These files contained previously seized unidentified images and video series depicting child sex abuse material. The objective was to identify both the victims and offenders, as well as determine the locations where the abuse occurred.

Through the use of specialized technologies and collaborative work between the HSI offices of the countries, the police, the prosecutor’s office and the judges of some of the countries, important results were achieved.

The operation resulted in the identification of 110 missing or abused children and the arrest of 8 perpetrators of child abuse.

Images obtained from a governmental database of international missing and exploited children were searched through Clearview AI which was used to generate leads. These investigative leads were followed up with investigative work and then the results were disseminated globally to the corresponding law enforcement agencies.

—

ICMEC

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is a non-governmental organization working to make the world a safer place for all children by defending against child sexual exploitation, abuse, and the risk of going missing. ICMEC provides training and technology to law enforcement partners globally to help combat child exploitation.

To date, ICMEC has provided such training to more than 16,000 individuals from 128 countries.

—

Clearview AI

Clearview AI’s mission is to help reduce crime, fraud and risk, to create safer communities, ensure secure commerce, and enhance our national security and military defense. TIME Magazine named Clearview AI one of the world’s “100 Most Influential Companies.”

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Online child sexual exploitation is a rapidly growing crisis impacting children in every corner of the globe. 

In 2021 alone, there were more than 29.3 million reports of OCSE – representing as many as 85 million images, videos, and other files (source: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children). 

“Each one of these harms a child,“ says Bob Cunningham, CEO of ICMEC. “The problem will only grow as more users globally gain access to the internet through mobile phones, computers, and other devices. Professionals must be equipped with the specialized knowledge and tools to effectively prevent and respond to the rising tide of abuse facing children online.”

The Protecting Children Online Academy is a collaboration between Notre Dame’s Cybercrime Investigation, Research, and Education (CIRE) Initiative and ICMEC. 

“The University of Notre Dame is committed to leveraging technology in the pursuit of truth,” says Mitch Kajzer, Managing Director of Notre Dame’s Cybercrime Investigation, Research, and Education (CIRE). “Important partnerships like this one enable us to develop new insights, procedures, and knowledge about cybercrimes against children, and educate and train the current and future generations of cyber investigative professionals.”

This 5-day in-person course brings together child protection experts from around the globe to educate interested participants on the worldwide phenomenon of online child sexual exploitation, the impact it has, how to approach and respond to it, and how you can play a role in defending children against this crime.

Sharing knowledge from global child protection experts including:

• Maya Alieh  – Sergeant Detective, Montreal Police Department, Cyber Crimes Unit
• Michael Burnett – Attorney, Expert in the Valuation and Resolution of Sexual Misconduct Claims
• Caroline Humer – Global Child Protection Expert
• Mitch Kajzer – Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame CIRE.  Executive Director, St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit
• Lawrence McClain – Forensic Manager, Magnet Forensics and retired law enforcement
• Mick Moran – MSc FCCI University College Dublin

This course is open to any professional who wishes to acquire a better understanding of how they can protect children from harm online by fighting online child sexual exploitation, offering practical experience in law, policy, and practices to prevent and respond to online child sexual exploitation as well as effective business practices that you can carry throughout your career to defend children. 

This course is currently open to the first 90 registrants. Find more information or register by visiting https://www.icmec.org/notredame/

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About the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC):

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is a non-governmental organization working to make the world a safer place for all children by defending against child sexual exploitation, abuse, and the risk of going missing. Headquartered in the United States, ICMEC coordinates with partners around the world to develop research, technologies, and educational resources to aid in the search and recovery of children who are missing, fight child sexual exploitation, and empower caring professionals, institutions, and communities to safeguard children from all forms of sexual abuse. For more information go to www.icmec.org.

About Cybercrime Investigation, Research, and Education (CIRE) initiative at the University of Notre Dame:

The mission of the Cybercrime Investigation, Research, and Education (CIRE) initiative is to provide digital forensic services, develop new insights, procedures, and knowledge about cybercrime and cybersecurity problems, and educate and train the current and future generations of cyber investigative professionals. https://cire.nd.edu/

Media contact: Members of the media with questions about ICMEC or our programs may contact us at media@icmec.org or +1.703.837.6313.

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The report, which details the current legal frameworks for the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse across ASEAN Member States, aims to be a useful resource as progress continues to be made to improve and harmonise legal protections for children in the region. ASEAN Member States currently have laws in place that protect children against sexual exploitation and abuse. The laws cover, to varying degrees, offences including rape, child prostitution, abduction, trafficking and child sexual exploitation images, as well as other forms of child sexual abuse.

The report’s key findings include:

• near-universal buy-in to major treaties on child protection, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography;
• all ASEAN Member States (excluding Brunei) have some level of mandatory reporting obligations which in most cases apply at least to medical and education/childcare professionals; and
• lack of reporting mechanisms applicable to website owners/online service providers and financial institutions/payment platforms—with only the Philippines imposing reporting obligations on individuals and entities within those sectors.

ASEAN Member States also established a Regional Plan of Action for Protection of Children from All Forms of Online Abuse and Exploitation in February 2022. The first focus area is a stated commitment to “promote, develop, and implement comprehensive national legal frameworks in each ASEAN Member State and work towards improving child protection standards and policies on all forms of online exploitation and abuse across ASEAN Member States”. This is a key development given the risks to children within online environments.

The report recommends certain steps for ASEAN Member States to close gaps in protection and better support enforcement and regional cooperation to combat sexual offences, including:

• ensuring that legislation adequately addresses the wide range and nature of sexual offences committed online in the present-day; and
• ensuring that extradition treaties and agreements between ASEAN Member States (and beyond) are sufficient to provide effective enforcement and deterrence.

Freshfields Singapore-based senior associate Samantha Tan said: “We extend enormous thanks and recognition to those law firms throughout the ASEAN region who generously provided the underlying jurisdiction-specific data for this report. A key takeaway from our research is that there are many reasons to be encouraged by the progress of child protection laws in ASEAN Member States. There remains work to be done in a number of areas where legislative improvements are needed, as well as the closing of certain gaps in coverage, and to better support enforcement and regional cooperation with respect to combating such offences.”

Freshfields London-based associate Fiona McHugh added: “Critical areas need to be addressed to reflect the modern reality that the sexual exploitation of children increasingly happens across physical and virtual borders. Many forms of child sexual abuse are committed across or outside national borders or within an online environment. Domestic legal regimes must evolve to reflect that.”

Bindu Sharma, ICMEC Vice President Global Policy & Industry Alliances / Managing Director, Asia Pacific, added: “Risks to children are now online and no longer limited by geographical boundaries or physical access. But legislation, more often than not, still continues to address the direct, physical, real-world risks to children. With the world celebrating Safer Internet Day on 7th February and the United Nations declaring November 18th as a “World Day Aimed at Ending Child Sexual Exploitation
and Violence, Bringing Hope and Healing to Survivors”, we hope this research will champion and, crucially, assist the development and strengthening of laws addressing specific online harms. In addition, we hope it provides ASEAN Member States with a useful resource as they work towards harmonizing child protection laws across the region.”

Freshfields’ senior partner Georgia Dawson and ICMEC CEO Robert Cunningham have made the following joint statement: “While our global community continues to make progress in improving the laws and systems to protect children, we still have work to do because one child missing, abused, or exploited is one too many. We hope that policymakers, law enforcement, and child-protection organisations will benefit from this comprehensive report to identify challenges and gaps that still exist leaving children vulnerable.”

The report was prepared by Freshfields in collaboration with ICMEC and local lawyers in each of the ASEAN Member States. The core team leading the research included Freshfields’ senior partner Georgia Dawson, senior associate Samantha Tan, and associate Fiona McHugh. The ICMEC team includes Bindu Sharma and Sandra Marchenko.

The full report can be accessed here: icmec.org/asean

About the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) envisions a world where children can grow up safe from exploitation, abuse, or risk of going missing. ICMEC’s mission is to advance child protection and safeguard vulnerable children by:

• powering the global search for children who are missing;
• disrupting the economics and mechanics of commercial child exploitation; and
• training frontline professionals to prevent and respond to cases of child abuse and exploitation.

Over the last two decades, ICMEC has worked in more than 120 countries, empowering the global community with the tools, training, and technology to create a safer world for children. ICMEC is headquartered in the United States, with regional representation in Australia, Brazil, and Singapore. Learn more at www.icmec.org.

About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world’s leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions, and governments on ground-breaking and business-critical mandates. Freshfields’ 2,800-plus lawyers work to deliver results worldwide and alongside leading local firms. Freshfields provides free legal services in the public interest (pro bono) to a wide range of clients around the world, from individuals to some of the world’s biggest charitable and non-profit organisations. Partnering with organisations such as ICMEC is an important part of our pro bono strategy and our desire to play a role in improving the communities in which we live and work.

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