The CyberSEE joint project of the European Union and the Council of Europe supported the participation of 12 experts from South-East Europe and Türkiye in the AP TWINS Annual Expert Meeting 2025, held at Europol Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands from 9 to 11 September 2025.
Organised by the AP TWINS team of Europol, the event gathered law enforcement experts, investigators, judicial authorities, and partners from international organisations and the private sector to strengthen cooperation in combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA).
The event facilitated the exchange of knowledge on operational cases, victim identification, reporting mechanisms, legal frameworks, and emerging technologies such as AI, virtual reality, and data-driven tools. Participants shared lessons from multinational operations and highlighted the importance of cross-sector collaboration, technological innovation, and survivor-informed approaches in preventing and responding to child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Over three days, the meeting featured operational case presentations, technical sessions, and discussions on cross-border cooperation. The first day focused on major joint actions, investigative challenges, livestreaming, DevOps tools, and perspectives from international partners. The second day explored in-depth case studies and operational examples, with contributions from NCMEC, Google, Revolut, and OpenAI on the application of new tools and technologies. The final day highlighted research and innovation, but also included specialised sessions on self-generated CSAM by minors, EU-funded initiatives, generative AI misuse, and international cooperation frameworks.
On 10 September 2025, the CyberSEE project held a dedicated session with representatives from South-East Europe and Türkiye to gather feedback from project countries on domestic capacities to investigate OCSEA, existing needs and upcoming priorities to explore how those can be addressed in line with the project’s capacity building objectives.
By bringing together experts from South-East Europe and Türkiye and EU member states, the same standards and good practices in fighting against OCSEA are promoted. These efforts are closely connected to the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) which provides the international legal framework for effective investigation and international cooperation in OCSEA cases.
The CyberSEE project remains committed to support countries in strengthening legislation, operational capacities, and cross-border collaboration to respond OCSEA and other cybercrime offences.
