News

IPPPRI joins with partners to transform the global response for victim/survivors of online child sexual abuse

ARU's International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI) has joined with a consortium of partners to develop the Artemis Survivor Hub (ASH) – a revolutionary, victim-focused response to online child sexual exploitation.

Thanks to funding from Safe Online and the Graham Dacre Foundation, the partnership, comprising IPPPRI, Child Rescue Coalition (CRC), Protect Children, and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), has begun work to develop the project, which will change the way that victims of online abuse are treated when their images are shared online. The consortium is also being supported by James Marsh Law Firm.

Latest IWF data shows that more than 424,000 reports were made to their service in 2024, whereby individuals believe a web page to contain child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Of these reports, more than 291,000 were found to contain CSAM.

Globally, Childlight’s Into the Light Index showed that in 2024, 10 cases of online sexual abuse were reported every second and that 300million+ children have been affected by abusive online behaviour.

Currently, the global law enforcement response to tackling online CSAM focuses on targeting offenders, often neglecting the long-term trauma of survivors whose abuse images continue to circulate online, long after the law enforcement response to their abuse is over.

The Artemis Survivor Hub builds on Operation Artemis, pioneered by CRC, which matches identifiers assigned to a CSAM image known as ‘hashes,’ with a small cohort of identified survivors to remove them from the internet and to pursue offenders in possession of them. The hub expands this concept and establishes a holistic service for more survivors of CSAM.

ASH will transform the current response to survivors, by:

1. Matching survivors with the ‘hashes’ of their images, enabling law enforcement to actively target offenders.

2. Using those hashes to actively search for and remove their images from circulation, motivating technology companies to proactively remove images of known survivors.

3. Providing victim impact statements for criminal proceedings, making a global statement that CSAM is never victimless.

4. Enabling free legal representation to pursue criminal restitution and civil remedy.

5. Offering a suite of e-resources supporting the recovery of survivors and families.

Each partner will contribute a key component of the hub:

  • The IWF will provide the portal to enable survivors to submit their abuse imagery.
  • CRC will provide the technical capability to identify and match ‘hashes’ and provide law enforcement with the information they need to pursue offenders.
  • Protect Children will provide a range of holistic support resources.
  • IPPPRI will analyse and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the project with a view to continuously improving the service offered to survivors.
  • Marsh Law Firm will also be supporting the project partners by providing free legal support to pursue criminal restitution for those survivors wishing to seek civil remedy following their abuse.

Now that funding has been secured, work will begin to deliver a pilot of the project in five countries: the UK, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Morocco. The pilot will run for 18 months before a full evaluation takes place to develop a blueprint for maximising the global reach and impact of the survivor hub approach.

Graham Dacre, of the Graham Dacre Foundation, who provided match funding for the project explains:

"As we all learn more about the scale of online child abuse, it also becomes clear that the long-term impact of the trauma experienced by victim/survivors is significant, and affecting hundreds of thousands of young people across the world.

"At present, they are not being supported in the best possible way, and they have little ability to control what happens to the images of their abuse, what happens to offenders, and they often receive no specialist support to help them recover.

"I'm delighted therefore to be able to support the development of the Artemis Survivor Hub, which aims to put the needs of victims first, whilst addressing all of these issues in tailored, informed ways. I look forward to hearing about the success of the pilot and how the learning will be used to better serve victim / survivors globally."

Simon Bailey, Chair of IPPPRI, said:

"Imagine being a victim/survivor of child sexual abuse, being one of the 15% who think or know their abuse images have been posted online, yet not knowing if industry is removing your abuse images, not knowing if law enforcement is targeting offenders who possess, view and share your images, not knowing when your abusers are being prosecuted, knowing you have no voice in a prosecution, and feeling that there is no one there to help you deal with your trauma. Imagine also being told by so many that image-based abuse is ‘victimless’.

"This is the reality for so many victim/survivors of online CSA, and thanks to Safe Online and Graham Dacre, we are working with partners to give victim/survivors, hope, a voice, and support to redress the failings in the current response.

"Together, we have the opportunity to make an unimaginable difference to people going through trauma that often feels endless, due to the nature of the online world in which their abuse continues.

"I’d like to thank all at Safe Online and Graham Dacre for their support of what we truly believe will be a revolutionary project, positively impacting on so many people who have been exploited, and that will ultimately transform the global response for victim/survivors around the world."

Further information on the development of the pilot project will be shared in the coming months.