Every year, all over the world it’s estimated that the lives of more than 300 million children are blighted by the horror of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). That’s around ten cases every second. 

To promote new thinking to tackle this hidden pandemic, the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) are assembling some of the world’s leading authorities for a special symposium in Atlanta, United States on June 2-3, 2025.

Together, we will explore how a preventive, public health approach, as recommended by the World Health Organization and others, can shift the dial globally. Replicating some of the remarkable successes that have been achieved with such an approach on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 to homicide reduction.

This scandal exists because it’s allowed to exist, and we believe this exciting event, hosted by the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University, will inform and inspire - and be a catalyst for sustainable change to better protect our children.