After years of analysis, research and political measures, the federal commissioner for abuse, Kerstin Claus, sees progress in the fight against sexual violence against children and young people. At the same time, in Berlin she pointed out that there is still a great need for action, especially with a view to new, growing threats from digitalization and artificial intelligence.
It's about danger and risk prevention. “We currently have ten million people in Germany who have experienced sexual violence in childhood or youth.”
“The risk for children and young people of experiencing sexual violence has never been as high as it is today,” said Claus. “The risks in the digital space are exploding.”
The occasion was the presentation of their report on the extent of sexual violence against children and young people and the status of prevention, help and processing. The number of children and young people affected remains high, it says. Reference is made to crime statistics figures that have already been published. Accordingly, the police counted a total of 17,126 cases of child sexual abuse in 2025, around 1,600 more than five years ago and 772 more than the previous year.
Four and a half years after she took office, Claus presented a larger inventory with the report. It does not contain any new data, but rather highlights the current state of knowledge and derives political demands from it. A lot has happened since she took office, but better protection is possible.
Claus positively emphasized that in the 16 years since the so-called abuse scandal, skills and resources in the area of prevention have been consistently expanded. “A basic help and support landscape has been defined and improved for those affected.”
In 2010, numerous cases of abuse came to light at the elite Catholic high school Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin in the 1970s and 80s. Afterwards, many more cases became known across Germany.
The abuse commissioner continues to critically assess existing gaps in protection. Your demands:
an active search and removal of depictions of abuse on the Internet, because as long as they circulate there, the abuse will continue
an expansion of criminal law, which currently only protects children under 14 from cybercriminals, so that young people are also protected
the introduction of a school subject “Digital World/Digitality”, which teaches digital skills to children and young people and includes how to deal with risks on the internet
Protection concepts in all schools, daycare centers and leisure activities for children (these should include forms of digitalized violence)
Further training for teachers in the fight against digital sexualized violence
States and municipalities should ensure that schools, daycare centers or churches report cases of abuse to the statutory accident insurance, whose benefits include medical and medical treatment as well as rehabilitation
Specialist advice centers should be further expanded and established with a legal right to specialist advice for those affected
Student files should be kept for 70 years
“Child protection and prevention of sexual violence” should become a mandatory training component for social workers, teachers, the judiciary, the police, the health system and administration
The report focuses on the digital space and artificial intelligence. The digital world is changing access options for perpetrators. Places of communication and interaction on the internet have become “central crime scenes of sexual violence”. Reference is made to the dangers of AI, such as the fact that innocuous profile photos can be converted into nude images using AI, which makes sexual blackmail (“sextorsion”) easier.
