Child abuse

Health news

Childhood trauma linked to higher risk of endometriosis

The gynaecological condition can cause severe pain and infertility, but doctors still don’t know exactly why some women develop it.

11/06/2025

Europe News

French PM Bayrou denies covering up Catholic school abuse scandal

French Prime Minister François Bayrou faced a high-stakes parliamentary hearing on Wednesday evening, testifying under oath about what he knew or didn't know regarding decades of alleged abuse at a Catholic school in southwestern France.

15/05/2025

Health news

1 in 5 women, 1 in 7 men are victims of childhood sexual violence

The estimates are some of the most comprehensive to date on the prevalence of childhood sexual violence worldwide.

08/05/2025

Europe News

US citizen faces extradition from Greece over child abuse ring links

A suspect identified as Leonidas Varagiannis, 21, was arrested in Thessaloniki for allegedly leading an online child exploitation group known as "764 Inferno". He denies the charges and opposes extradition to the US.

01/05/2025

Tech News

Warnings amid rise in child abuse content hosted in EU countries

A rise in child sex abuse material has been linked to websites hosted in EU countries, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

25/04/2025

Europe News

Video showing alleged rape of 16-year-old sparks backlash in Portugal

Citing the case, one Portuguese MEP has urged the European Commission to take action to prevent the online spread of harmful content.

10/04/2025

Tech News

Tech companies urge EU to preserve voluntary detection of child abuse content in online platforms

Tech industry groups have rallied behind the Polish presidency’s proposal to extend the current framework for voluntary detection of child sexual abuse imagery online while safeguarding encrypted communication.

13/03/2025

Tech News

Bluesky partners with charity to curb online child sexual abuse

The social media platform will have access to a new range of tools to detect harmful material.

24/02/2025

Tech News

1 in 12 children globally exposed to online sexual abuse content

This figure points to "the need for increased legislation and primary prevention efforts to keep children safe," the researchers wrote in the study.

26/01/2025

Tech News

EU ministers agree on criminalising online child abuse, but concerns over consent remain

A text addressing the criminalisation of online child sexual abuse is set to enter trilogue negotiations, despite concerns from several member states regarding the lack of ambition in defining consent and the qualification of rape.

13/12/2024

Tech News

EU countries split on image scanning for child pornography

A blocking minority of EU countries in the European Council continue to refuse to allow the scanning of messages, even if this delays the detection of child abuse material. Why are they opposed, and who are they? Can the deadlock be broken?

09/10/2024

Europe News

Pope meets homeless and undocumented in Brussels

As part of his trip to Belgium, Pope Francis made a surprise visit to Saint Gilles where he met with homeless and undocumented people.

28/09/2024

Belgium

Pope makes hope-inspired trip to 'heart of Europe' amid abuse scandal

While in Belgium, Pope Francis will have to face a backlash against local church authorities amid child abuse scandals. The Vatican hopes the visit will also help the EU "rediscover its roots".

27/09/2024

Europe News

Parliament feuds over women’s rights committee role in child abuse law

"We don't have time to waste on debates about gender theory," said right-wing MEP, Fabrice Leggeri.

10/09/2024

Europe News

Ireland to set up inquiry into 'harrowing' abuse at religious schools

The government's scoping inquiry found almost 2,400 allegations of historical sexual abuse by hundreds of schools run by religious orders across Ireland.

04/09/2024

Tech News

Ombudsman slams Commission for secrecy around child sexual abuse law

The Commission has been accused of "maladministration" for refusing to release documents.

18/07/2024

Europe News

Council delays decision on scanning all online images to combat child sexual abuse

Despite being close to securing the necessary majority for an agreement on the child sexual abuse material regulation, the vote has been postponed as significant disagreements remain.

20/06/2024

Tech News

Will EU agree to scan all your images to combat child sexual abuse?

European ambassadors are set to wrangle over the inclusion of new scanning technology that would monitor content in a draft Child Sexual Abuse Material regulation introduced by the Belgian presidency of the EU Council.

20/06/2024

Tech News

Commission seeks closer ties with Latin America to tackle drug traffic

Cooperation with drug exporting countries would enable Europol to access more data on illegal activities .

30/05/2024

Tech News

Diplomats mull online child abuse control with no deal in sight

Dialogue is still open, but new attempts by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU to find compromise have struggled with divisions over privacy among member states.

21/05/2024