On Safer Internet Day, Missing Children Europe Launches the CESAGRAM Project to Counter Online Grooming and Missing.

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Brussels, 7th February 2023 – On Safer Internet Day, Missing Children Europe is proud to announce its CESAGRAM project, an initiative addressing the growing phenomenon of online child sexual abuse which aims to better understand the relationship between missing children and online grooming. Anna Maria Corrazza Bildt, President of Missing Children Europe, is launching the initiative at a series of Safer Internet Day related events, including at the UK Mission to the EU event “Countering Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”, co-hosted by Missing Children Europe.

Online Child sexual abuse is a serious and rising concern. The British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has reported a 70% increase in the number of sexual communications with child offences in the last three years. Several 116000 hotlines have reported that online grooming is a growing factor leading to disappearances of children.

CESAGRAM will research the link between online grooming for sexual purposes and missing children. Based on interviews with survivors and case analyses it aims to identify key indicators of risk, it will develop tools to recognize and prevent grooming, and it will raise awareness of the grooming process amongst children.

Missing Children Europe’s president, Anna Maria Corrazza Bildt, will launch the initiative at a series of Safer Internet Day related events in Milan, Rome and Brussels. On February 8th , she will present the project at an event co-hosted by the UK Mission to the EU which aims to stimulate a discussion on Countering Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and which includes speakers from the UK Home Office Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Unit, The Safety Tech Challenge Fund, and INTERPOL.

The CESAGRAM project is a crucial step towards combating the growing problem of online child sexual exploitation and abuse and creating a comprehensive European strategy against grooming and missing. Missing Children Europe is committed to ensuring that the necessary research, training, and tools are in place to prevent online grooming and protect vulnerable children from harm.

You can keep track of the CESAGRAM project at: https://missingchildreneurope.eu/cesagram/

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On Safer Internet Day, Missing Children Europe Launches the CESAGRAM Project to Counter Online Grooming and Missing.

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