Abuse Commissioner Claus: “Risks in the digital space are exploding”

The federal government's independent abuse commissioner, Kerstin Claus, has urgently called for children and young people to be better protected from sexual violence. In her report on the extent of sexual violence against children and young people, she warned: “Never before” has the risk of this been “as high as it is today”.

The rapid development in the digital sector plays a “decisive part” in this, says Claus. "The risks in the digital space are exploding." This would have changed the possibilities of access for perpetrators.

Young people experience “cybergrooming” online

According to this, one in four young people between the ages of 14 and 17 has experienced so-called cybergrooming. The term describes the targeted contact of adults with minors via the Internet in order to sexually manipulate them. Claus specifically demanded that criminal law also protect young people over the age of 14 from this.

It goes on to say that places of communication and interaction on the internet have become “central crime scenes of sexual violence”. Reference is also made to the dangers of artificial intelligence - for example, that innocuous profile photos can be converted into nude images using AI, which makes sexual blackmail (“sextorsion”) easier.

Continuing high number of victims

The number of children and young people affected remains high, according to the abuse commissioner's report. 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.

Claus explained that a lot has happened since she took office. But better protection is possible, the instruments are known - but they are far from being implemented everywhere. Only eleven of the 16 federal states nationwide have committed to protection concepts in schools. She calls on the missing countries to take care of it. Corresponding requirements are currently missing in Hamburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria and Bremen.

Claus wants a school subject about online risks

In her report, the abuse commissioner advocates, among other things, the introduction of a school subject "Digital World/Digitality", which imparts digital skills to children and young people and includes how to deal with risks on the Internet. Depictions of abuse on the Internet must also be actively sought out and proactively deleted - because as long as they circulate there, the abuse will not end.

Overall, the representative called for the recommendations of the expert commission on child and youth protection in the digital world to be implemented. This commission, set up by Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU), presented 56 recommendations at the beginning of September, including a minimum age limit for social media.

For the first time, the Federal Government and the Bundestag must also deal with their report on the extent of sexual violence. Such a reporting obligation for the representatives was agreed in the so-called UBSKM law, which the Bundestag passed at the end of the last legislative period. UBSKM stands for Independent Federal Commissioner against Sexual Abuse of Children and Young People, Claus' official title.