Director General of Democracy and Human Dignity of the Council of Europe, Marja Ruotanen, showcased the organisation's child protection initiatives at the WeProtect Global Alliance Summit in Abu Dhabi (4-5 December 2024). This landmark event brought together over 600 multidisciplinary stakeholders from around the world in person and online, to discuss and take pre-emptive action on critical technology trends that will impact online child safety over the next years.

Speaking at the session on “Shifting safety on a regional scale”, the Director General highlighted the Council of Europe’s leading role in protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes setting legal standards, monitoring their implementation, offering a platform for sharing good practices, and providing technical assistance through co-operation projects. The work is tailored to diverse legal, cultural, and socio-economic contexts of the 46 Council of Europe member states, making the standards adaptable and attractive to other regions beyond Europe.

A key child instrument is the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the Lanzarote Convention) which is also open for accession worldwide. "The Lanzarote Convention provides a clear set of technology-neutral guidelines for criminalising all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, both offline and online. It serves as a blueprint for any country developing legislation and policies to prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse, protect victims, prosecute offenders and promote national and international co-operation," Ruotanen noted.

She also highlighted the significant benefits for non-European countries considering ratification of the Lanzarote Convention, including enhanced protection for victims through the child-friendly multidisciplinary Barnahus model, membership in the Lanzarote Committee for peer review and experience-sharing, and access to the Council of Europe’s technical assistance and capacity building.

In closing, Ruotanen reaffirmed the Council of Europe’s commitment to global collaboration in combating online child abuse. "The fight against online child sexual abuse is a global issuethat can only be tackled successfully through global co-operation," she concluded. "We look forward to continuing our work with all stakeholders and international partners, including the WeProtect Global Alliance, to ensure that children everywhere can explore the digital world without fear of abuse or violence."