April 3, 2025: Safe Online is proud to announce the launch of the Second Edition of the Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, a comprehensive resource aimed at improving the accuracy, sensitivity, and consistency of language used in the fight against child sexual exploitation and abuse. The updated guidelines will officially launch at a global webinar on April 10, 2025, at 13:00 GMT.
Safe Online proudly participated in the development of the new guidelines, alongside ECPAT, Childlight|Global Child Safety Institute, the WeProtect Global Alliance and a diverse group of global organisations and entities representing different sectors. The updated edition reflects the latest insights and best practices in child protection, offering refined definitions and language to improve how professionals, policymakers, and the media refer to cases of child sexual exploitation and abuse and contribute to ensuring no child is hurt by the words of the professionals they meet.
Key Updates in the Second Edition
The Second Edition includes updated definitions and guidance on key terms related to child sexual exploitation and abuse, including:
The guidelines also provide greater attention to intersectionality, gender identity, and LGBTQI+ considerations, ensuring that language reflects the diverse realities of child survivors and those at increased risk of sexual exploitation.
A Collaborative Global Effort
The updated guidelines were developed through an extensive collaborative process involving over 40 global organisations, including survivor advocates, legal experts, and child protection professionals. The Interagency Working Group combined diverse expertise and perspectives to create a globally relevant and adaptable resource that reflects the evolving nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Our grantees ChildFund International Countries involved:October 2017 – October 2019 ChildFund Kenya’s Safe CLICS project will address key gaps by increasing OCSEA awareness, building children’s and youth’s online safety skills, improving service providers’, schools’, communities’, parents’ and caregivers’ abilities to detect and respond to OCSEA, strengthening Kenya’s national framework and improving
Our grantees University of Kent Understanding and Improving Help-seeking by People at Risk of Perpetrating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Countries involved:United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology at the University of Kent is a group of leading psychologists working
Safe Online joins survivors, allies and global child protection organisations to call upon all States, the tech industry and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and end the sexual exploitation and abuse of children online and create a safer digital future for every child.
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