Author: Deborah Fry, Professor of International Child Protection Research and Director of Data at the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh

The sexual exploitation and abuse of children has become a multibillion-dollar global trade. The chilling reality of this profit-driven, highly lucrative industry is laid bare by new findings from myself and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh’s Childlight Global Child Safety Institute. Our new report shows child abuse isn’t just a crime restricted to a hidden corner of the dark web. Based on a review of 20 publications across multiple disciplines (including big data reports, systematic reviews, discussion papers and qualitative studies), the report paints a picture of the financial mechanisms enabling abuse on a global scale. Our previous work…