UPDATE (January 2017): This petition is now closed. Thank you to the 38,543 supporters who called on the Government to hold online offenders financially accountable. We continue to campaign for the Government to introduce criminal justice measures to enable child victims of online sexual abuse to claim compensation from offenders.

Every day, Amy (not her real name), now a young woman, faces the prospect of reliving the trauma and psychological distress of child sexual abuse:

"I always know that there is another ‘little me’ being seen on the Internet by other abusers."1

For children in the United States like Amy, the law has now made it possible to claim damages against their online abusers to help pay the costs of their ongoing recovery.

But here in the UK, children are unable to hold offenders financially accountable for the abuse they inflict.

Call on Michael Gove, UK Secretary of State for Justice, to introduce a legal financial order to enable child victims of online sexual abuse to claim compensation from their abusers.

The NCA's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command estimates that 50,000 individuals in the UK are involved in downloading, sharing or streaming child sexual abuse images and videos.2 According to children's rights experts, each time an image is shared, a new form of child sexual abuse occurs.3

This recurring abuse can have an enduring psychological and financial impact on children like Amy, who require ongoing therapy and struggle to access long-term education and employment.4

SOURCES

1. http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/pricing_amy_should_those_who_download_child_pornography_pay_the_victims

2. https://www.ceop.police.uk/Documents/ceopdocs/CEOP_TACSEA2013_240613%20FINAL.pdf

3. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/12-8561

4. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/how-much-can-restitution-help-victims-of-child-pornography.html?pagewanted=9&_r=0