Online Safety Bill must go further to stop child sexual abuse
- The NSPCC is urging the government to go further with the Online Safety Bill to tackle grooming and child abuse.
- Research from the charity has shown reports of online child sexual abuse to the police have risen by over a quarter since 2018.
- The NSPCC are recommending a clampdown on ‘breadcrumbing’ in which offenders use social media to form networks, advertise sexual interest in children and signpost to child abuse content hosted on other sites.
- You can read the full story on the Police Professional’s website.
Immigration laws ‘will have massively detrimental impact’
- Nine child protection and anti-trafficking groups say that the new Nationality and Borders Bill will have a massively detrimental impact on exploited children.
- The government has been urged not to let an “adult-focused agenda take priority over children’s rights”.
- Charities warn the new laws will leave children at greater risk of being unidentified, unprotected, and penalised.
- You can read the full story on the Herald’s website.
Children accidentally coming across far-right material
- Teachers at the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) report that children are accidentally coming across far-right material online.
- They stated that children’s access to social media and smartphones leave them more at risk of being exposed to extremist material than ever.
- Teachers claim that the pandemic has increased the risk for young people, who were forced to spend more time online during lockdown.
- You can read the full story on The Guardian’s website.
Sharp increase in proportion of trafficked children missing from care
- Research has shown the proportion of trafficked children who go missing from local authority care has increased by a quarter over two years.
- The Nationality and Borders Bill will reduce identification and protection for child victims of trafficking.
- The number of trafficked children has increased from 960 to 1231 from 2018 to 2020, with charities warning this is likely an indicator of re-trafficking.
- You can read the full story on the Children and Young People Now’s website.
The Family Sex Show cancelled amid threats and abuse at staff
- A sex education theatre show aimed at children have been cancelled after the venue received ‘unprecedented threats and abuse’.
- The show would have featured non-sexual nudity and explored topics including consent, pleasure, queerness and gender.
- More than 38,000 people signed a petition calling for its cancellation, claiming the show was profoundly irresponsible and inappropriate.
- The creators of the show have now cancelled its whole tour.
- You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.