Coming Together as a Global Community to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation

This week, I was honored to join over a hundred guests from more than 41 nations in the United Arab Emirates for the second #WePROTECT Children Online Global Summit.  #WePROTECT was started in 2014 by UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, as an initiative to elevate the issue of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) online for leaders around the world, and to galvanize action around CSEA from countries, companies and civil society.

Over the past two days, guests representing 41 countries, 17 companies and 16 civil society organizations came together to agree on a proposed national model response to prevent and tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse. This model was designed by an international committee to help more countries create the infrastructure they need to effectively address the issue.  Key areas of action center around policy & governance, criminal justice, victim response, societal engagement, industry, and media & communications.

Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation from Every Angle

For a panel I spoke on, I joined our friends from Microsoft and Stop It Now UK to share with participants about the role the Thorn Innovation Lab plays in creating tools and techniques that can be leveraged around the world to fight child sexual exploitation.  At a higher level, my goal was to inspire other organizations working on CSEA, to think broadly and come up with new, innovative solutions that can be shared with everyone in the field.  

We know that the issue of child sexual exploitation and abuse is much bigger than any individual or any one country.  It was inspiring to see so many people from around the world coming together to elevate this discussion, share best practices and commit to working harder to protect our most precious resource — our children.

Ernie Allen, Chair of the WeProtect international Advisory Board, hosting a panel to discuss the Proposed Model Framework at the second WeProtect Global Meeting.