Our work

ChildX works to stop human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, i.e. sexual abuse of children where the perpetrator uses payment or other forms of remuneration as one of his means of power. The foundation was founded in 2014 and operates both in Sweden and internationally.

We work to change the system, which means that we want to fundamentally change society’s view of the sexual exploitation of children. We want to move from seeing the abuse as the responsibility of the victimized child to seeing it as a form of violence, where the perpetrator is the only guilty party. This requires a change both in formal systems such as the justice, health and education sectors as well as in informal systems such as cultural norms and attitudes.

The aim is to create a culture where sexual exploitation of children is not tolerated. Where victims are supported and their rights fulfilled, where perpetrators are held accountable and where prevention work is carried out to prevent future abuse.

The main experts on how to combat commercial sexual exploitation are those who have survived it themselves. That’s why we work closely with survivors to learn from their expertise and raise their voices. We have a child rights perspective in everything we do and work with the best interests of the child at heart.

ChildX’s work to stop the sexual exploitation of children has three legs:

Knowledge enhancement work
Field building interventions
Advocacy work

Knowledge enhancement work

To protect children from being victimized, ensure that more children who are victimized are identified and receive a good response and their rights are met, we work actively with knowledge enhancement efforts. We compile research, knowledge and experience in the field to raise awareness of problems and solutions and provide input to decision-makers at national and international level.

Over the years, ChildX has produced a number of reports, such as:

The reports are an important part of our awareness-raising and advocacy work to raise the issue widely. Read more of our reports here.

As part of our awareness-raising work, we held the first national conference against commercial sexual exploitation of children in the spring of 2023 in collaboration with the Ellen Center, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency with NSPM, Novahuset and OKSE. In the fall of 2024, we organized the second national conference against commercial sexual exploitation of children – this time with the support of the Ellen Centre, Novahuset and Realstars.

Advocacy work

Our advocacy work is an important part of creating sustainable and fair social development. We do this by influencing laws, regulations, policies and recommendations that are necessary to create change at the system level. ChildX conducts advocacy work with key players in the field both internationally and in Sweden. We also work to spread knowledge and commitment to the public and various groups of people who can help create change in various ways.

ChildX also regularly participates in media, panels and debates to raise awareness of the issue among the general public, shift public opinion and influence policy makers.

In addition to this, we also carry out advocacy campaigns to highlight the issue and bring our demands to the attention of politicians. Examples of advocacy campaigns we have launched:

Field building interventions

Trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation is a complex challenge that cannot be solved alone. We need to create and develop a common direction together with other actors in the same field, and preferably across sectors.

That’s why ChildX works on field-building interventions to identify key challenges and opportunities together with others and increase the capacity and impact of the field’s collective efforts. Together, we can harness the collective power to create systemic change.

In concrete terms, we bring together organizations and actors working in different ways against the sexual exploitation of children. We create networks and carry out capacity building activities.

Currently, ChildX operates two clusters as part of our field building work.

1. the support cluster against sexualized violence

The support cluster is a collaboration between ChildX, 1000 Möjligheter, MÄN, Novahuset, Storasyster and Tjejzonen. The organizations provide low-threshold support in the form of e.g. chat, email or counseling to children and young people who have been exposed to sexualized violence.

The cluster’s mission is “a Sweden where no child or young person exposed to sexual violence lacks qualified support when they need it.” To achieve this, a strengthened child rights-based low-threshold support and coordination between the field’s actors is required.

One of the cluster’s first projects has been to develop an AI model that can streamline support and save time for both staff and volunteers, by automatically filling out forms and compiling textual documentation. The AI model will also help to identify patterns by being able to see trends early on, which can lead to organizations being able to act more quickly on challenges described by the applicants.

2. beyond survivors

Beyond Survivors is a network of organizations led by survivors of prostitution and human trafficking. The network was initiated and is coordinated by ChildX and is a collaboration between Footprint to Freedom (Netherlands, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya), Ge-STAC (Germany) Inte Din Hora (Sweden) and African Survivor Coalition.

One of the network’s first projects is to create an online course from survivor to survivor. The aim of the course is to help more survivors gain support, knowledge and tools to promote change. The course will also provide tools on how to use their own experience as a resource to support other survivors and drive policy advocacy.