In 2021, the number of images and consultations of child sexual abuse was on the rise. This was often accompanied with rape. Ylva Johansson (European Commissioner for Home Affairs) was alarmated by the explosion in illicit content online on May 11.
According to data from the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children, she argued that child sexual abuse was reported in 85 million photos and videos worldwide by 2021.
This content is more than 60% hosted on servers in the Union. Ms Johansson also stated that reporting has increased by 6000% in the EU over the past ten years.
France’s Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons, OCRVP with the central group of minor victim (17 investigators), is the point of call for any reports that are brought to the attention of the American NCMEC.
Four cases involving men between 17 and 60 years old were solved by French investigators in May. Four files highlight the differences in the profiles of suspects.
Last case was May 23, when a 35-year-old man was arrested in Loire-Atlantique for possessing and consulting child pornography photos. Frederic Courtot (deputy head of OCRVP) explained that he was found on the darknet (clandestine Internet) and is currently the subject of a police report. Already convicted of similar crimes, the man admitted to police that he had also raped, abused, and abused his three children, one being an infant. On May 25, he was arrested and taken into custody.
A 17-year-old boy was taken into custody in Yvelines on May 12. There were also “reports,” about forty, involving almost a thousand photos and videos. He filmed his half brothers aged five and under, whom he raped. He was arrested and taken to a residential facility.
“Two weeks prior, in the Antilles in Saint-Barthelemy, and in Guadeloupe the investigators had taken two men, aged 50 and 60, for possession and consultation child pornography images,” continued Commissioner Courtot, for whom the month of May “has seen a rich judicial activity.”
He believes that it is necessary to work together at all levels in order to combat “this rapidly growing phenomenon”. He believes the tools are not just oppressive. He insists on “prevention”, international cooperation, that with “associations and NGOs”, and the importance “public policies”.
This is why Brussels’ proposal to require platforms to report illegal content is part of the collective effort. It also supports the creation of a European center for combating child sexual abuse. .
