Diana Johnson: Time to act against images of child sex abuse online

The estimated number of people in the UK who access child abuse images online is truly shocking. It cannot be ignored.

Everyone who accesses such material on the web is an abuser, because accessing images of abuse is an inherent part of the process of abuse.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has been doing unpleasant, but very important work in this field.

It has the expertise to profile offenders and understands the processes of abuse. However, CEOP is being axed as a dedicated agency and will become part of the National Crime Agency.

CEOP has already lost its former head, Jim Gamble, with his 20 years of experience. He did not feel that the coalition’s new structure would protect the specialist work the centre does.

Police forces around the country are working to prevent abuse and to prosecute those doing it. However, they have to deal with a 20 per cent cut to the policing budget. Thousands of front-line police have left, often the most skilled and experienced officers, as well as back-office staff who investigate crimes and support victims. Ahead of today’s summit on the issue, Ministers do not appear to consider this type of work as “front-line policing”.

Although reported crime has continued falling overall, many online crimes, including abuse involving children, do not appear to be covered in official figures.

As well as stopping child abuse, we need to tackle staged rape and child abuse – the so-called rape porn industry that depicts rape and child abuse. Because it is staged by actors who are over 18, it is currently legal – despite its effects.

Of the top 10 Google search results for “free porn” half the websites host free rape pornography. Sites advertise content like “brutal rape”, “real rape” and “savage rape”. Some 78 per cent of sites hosting rape porn included simulated rape of under-18s, advertised through terms such as “schoolgirl rape”.

The End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition and the South London Rape Crisis centre have highlighted the material that is available online. It includes “Young schoolgirls abducted and cruelly raped. Hear her screams”; “Little schoolgirl raped by teacher”; “Tiny girl sleep rape” and “Girl raped at gun point”.

One expert, Professor Clare McGlynn of Durham University, has said: “It is undeniable that the proliferation and tolerance of such images and the messages they convey contributes to a cultural climate where sexual violence is condoned.”

Both Mark Bridger and Stuart Hazell had viewed violent and misogynistic pornography before they murdered young girls. Labour is committed to looking at how to ban such violent content.

Last week the House of Commons held a debate on how to tackle the issue and identify practical suggestions for action. Sadly on this important issue there was no consensus. Lib Dem and Tory MPs voted Labour’s sensible proposals down.

Turning to the specific issue of keeping our children safe on the internet, we must as a society utilise technology in the fight to keep children safe. However, where the industry – particularly internet service providers (ISPs) – do not respond, it is the role of Parliament to take action.

Labour has set out three measures that could be a practical solution to try to stop children accessing pornography. Labour called for the introduction of safe search as a default setting; effective age verification; and splash page warnings about pornographic content.

The logic is clear. With children being exposed to ever more graphic and extreme images online and through social media, we should use schools as a forum to have an informed discussion with children about sex and relationships. Of course we want families to do that too, but many parents are asking for such discussions to be part of the school curriculum as well.

The Government repeatedly claim that good schools are already providing good personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE). That may be right in some schools, but they cannot continue to deny research that shows that most schools do not provide good PSHE.

Only last week, Labour gave the Commons the opportunity to ensure that all schools provide such education, but the Government blocked the measure. In the digital age, we cannot protect young people from every possible danger that they could encounter, but we can tilt the odds in their favour and against the paedophiles and other abusers lurking online.