A global benchmark to
protect children and adolescents

Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau

Founder, Girls not Brides

“The Index helps us understand the status quo and direct our energy and attention to what needs to change in order to create a world we all want - a world in which children can live free from sexual abuse and violence, and thrive.”

Dr. Denis Mukwege

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Founder, Panzi Foundation and Hospital; Founder, Mukwege Foundation; gynaecologist and human rights activist

“Protecting children from sexual violence requires more than laws and commitments. It requires health systems that are trained to recognize harm early, respond with dignity, and connect children and families to the care they need.”

ElsaMarie D’Silva

Co-founder, Brave Movement; Founder, Red Dot Foundation

“Childhood sexual violence thrives in silence and stigma – what you don’t measure, you can’t fix. Listen to survivors, invest in prevention, and build systems people trust.”

Leah Juliett

Activist, Poet, Survivor, Organizer

“As a survivor, I know silence protects harm. The Out of the Shadows Index turns truth into necessary action. The data doesn't just inform us, it gives us the power to change what comes next.”

Elly Vaughan

Principal, Health and Society, Economist Impact

“Behind every data point in this Index is a child whose life has been shaped by violence. When systems fail to include mechanisms to prevent abuse, children pay the price and societies bear the cost for decades to come.”

Sophia Xuân Lưu

Founder and Director, Secrets Worth Sharing

“Survivors of childhood sexual harm shouldn't have to fight alone for their own support. Systems can be rewritten— from personal circles to governments. With the Out of the Shadows Index, the strategic, survivor-centred groundwork is already done. Governments simply need to act.”

Professor Deborah Fry

Childlight Global Director of Data and Professor of International Child Protection Research, University of Edinburgh

“Out of the Shadows is a vital tool to highlight government responses to child sexual abuse, alongside Childlight’s Into the Light Index, which reveals its scale and distribution. Together, they provide a fuller picture to drive accountability and target prevention.”

Professor Lucie Cluver

OBE, Professor of Child and Family Social Work, University of Oxford and University of Cape Town

“We are the first generation in history that can prevent childhood sexual violence. New, effective, low-cost programs can reach entire populations. Evidence shows this will benefit health, education, and national GDP. Now is the time.”

Scharliina Eräpuro

Artist, actress, advocate and survivor voice

“These crimes are rapidly increasing each year. As a survivor, I know the cost of silence. Governments must act now, not later, to protect children, invest in prevention, and ensure survivors are heard, believed, and supported.”

Marija Manojlovic

Executive Director, Safe Online

“Technology is changing how abuse is perpetrated, as well as how that abuse travels, mutates, and scales. Governments must put in place proactive, future-proof safeguards, backed by sustained financing, to prevent harm and stop this escalation.”

Dr. Bukola Ogunkua

Founder and CEO Suburbancares, public health physician, trauma expert and population health researcher

“Let us be the generation that chooses compassion over complacency, and action over indifference—so that every child’s future is defined by hope, not harm.”

Esther Dingemans

Director, Global Survivors Fund

“It's never too soon to protect children from experiencing sexual violence and never too late to accompany the reparative process they are entitled to. This index urges action now. Everywhere and together.”

Bryanna Mariñas

Founder & Global Coordinator, Global Youth-Led Movement on Ending Violence Against Children

“The Out of the Shadows Index reframes CSEA as a systems issue, and not just a statistic. By making national progress visible and comparable, it strengthens accountability and helps young advocates understand where our governments must do better and where we must continue pushing for change.”

“Survivors and advocates around the world can finally see in one place how their country stacks up in the fight to end childhood sexual violence. This resource is a compass for every activist and a roadmap for every government.”