Shocking data on the sexual abuse of children was presented on Monday by the vice-president of the Parliament Odysseus Konstantinopoulos.

“It is the duty of all of us, as well as the responsibility and debt, to protect our children”, emphasized the 5th vice-president of the House of the Plenary, during the anniversary report he made to the Parliament, on the occasion of the “European Day for the Protection of Children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse”.

As Mr. Constantinopoulos pointed out, “the European Commission is now focusing more on reversing the growing wave of online sexual abuse of children.”

The data mentioned by the vice-president of the Parliament and MP of PASOK-KINAL:

  • Only in 2021 were complaints made by internet companies for 85 million images and videos with this content while victims rarely disclose the incident and the abuse is often perpetrated by a person within the child’s circle of trust and often from the child’s own home.
  • Unfortunately, the current voluntary denunciation system is not efficient enough. Currently, 95% of all complaints come from just one service provider.
  • According to the Council of Europe, one in five children is a victim of some form of sexual violence. One in three never tell anyone about the abuse. 70% to 85% of them know those who abuse them.
  • And in Greece, the data speaks for itself. Complaints are almost daily and are forming a case file almost every two days.
  • According to ELAS data, only in Attica, complaints of rape and seduction of a minor, in 2023, they have increased by 33%.

“The increase is a very serious social phenomenon and huge questions arise about the role of the State. As a State, we must make it mandatory for all technology companies to detect and report to the authorities the sexual abuse of children on the internet”, said Mr. Konstantinopoulos and concluded:

“We are all responsible to keep our children safe from sexual predators.”