160 million children worldwide are victims of child labour, as estimated by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Approximately 79 million of these children are forced into hazardous work, which not only poses risks to their health, safety, and morals but can also involve sexual exploitation for financial gain.

Child sexual trafficking and exploitation are forms of exploitation for financial purposes. Sexual exploitation encompasses the involvement of children in sexual activities in exchange for money and can take place in a variety of locations and scenarios. In our current digital environment, a significant amount of sexual exploitation is facilitated through digital technologies, which include common communication tools like social media platforms.

United Action to Protect Children

Child sexual trafficking and exploitation are harrowing issues, and the psychological impact of living through such an experience can be long-lasting and devastating for the victims. Especially in cases where the material of the abuse continues to be distributed, the consequences can be severe. Tackling this issue calls for collective and united action from stakeholders across different sectors.

Do you work in education? Education is crucial in tackling this issue. Keeping children aware and informed can make a difference since most traffickers use psychological control to manipulate their victims.

• Parents, teachers or caretakers, inform children about who and what to look out for.
• Raise awareness regarding digital safety as many child sexual trafficking cases start online.
• Children must be made aware of the potential threats that linger online, but they must also be informed that in many cases, exploitation and trafficking start with a trusted adult.
• Young people must be taught to recognise signs of exploitation or abuse by close family members and must be equipped with the appropriate resources to seek help.
  
  

Do you work in the travel industry? Many cases of child trafficking and exploitation take place in hotels or lodging abroad. There are various options for the global travel and tourism industry to refocus their approaches to tackling these issues across their sector.

• Staff training events where your staff can learn how to recognise the signs and make a report.
• Ensure that resources are accessible for potential victims of abuse. E.g. making helpline contacts, or local law enforcement contacts available across different locations in your hotel or guest rooms.
• Facilitate a safe environment where signs of sexual abuse or exploitation among your guests can be more easily recognised.
  
  

What can all of us do? Stay alert! Make a report if you see any human trafficking indicators. Here are some suspicious situations to watch out for:

• An adult touching a child inappropriately.
• An adult isolating themselves with a child.
• An adult taking excessive pictures of children, particularly at the beach or the pool.
• Someone looking for sexual services from children or young people.
• An adult talking about sexual experiences with children.
• An adult showing pornographic images to a child.
  
  

In our campaign Don't Look Away developed in partnership with End Violence Against Children (EVAC), we outline how to recognise and report signs of child sexual trafficking. Due to common societal misconceptions, the perpetrators of trafficking are often believed to be strangers abducting children to foreign countries. While these situations do occur, more than half of child-trafficking cases begin with the involvement of a family member, according to report released by the IOM (International Organisation of Migration). Dismantling these stereotypes is critical to be able to recognise signs of exploitative behaviours or relationships.

Besides being alert to suspicious activity in everyday life, there are more things you can do to support protecting children from exploitation and trafficking. On Europol's website people can help advance law enforcement investigations by helping to identify unknown objects critical to the progress of the investigation.


Always keep in mind that every child behaves differently, and not every child will seem scared or uncomfortable. Knowing how to recognise signs of trafficking, even when they aren't obvious can save children's lives. If you notice any suspicious behaviour, immediately report it to national authorities.


Safer Internet Day would not be possible without the support of the European Union. Currently, the funding is provided by the Connecting Europe Facility program (CEF). Future actions will be funded through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL). Learn more about the European Commission’s new European strategy for a better internet for kids (BIK+) on the EC website.