Every child deserves
to be safe.
Child sexual exploitation, trafficking, and online abuse are among the most urgent crises of our time. The organisations we stand behind are on the front lines — removing harmful content, rescuing victims, and building the technology and systems that keep children safe.
The most vulnerable people on earth are children.
Every 40 seconds, a child goes missing in the United States alone. Globally, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. Online child sexual abuse material — images and videos of real children being harmed — is reported in the tens of millions of cases annually and growing.
These are not distant problems. They exist in every country, every city, every community. The internet has made exploitation faster, cheaper, and harder to detect. Predators operate in plain sight. Children are targeted through the same devices they use for homework and play.
E•M•A•N•C•I•P•A•T•I•O•N funds and amplifies the organisations doing the hardest work in this space — the ones removing illegal content, building detection technology, rescuing victims, and providing survivors with the support they need to rebuild their lives.
This is not charity. This is the minimum that a just society owes its children.
"The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens."
— Jimmy CarterThe internet's
frontline defence.
Founded in 1996, the Internet Watch Foundation is the UK's leading charity dedicated to eliminating child sexual abuse material from the internet. They operate a global hotline for reporting illegal content, work with tech companies to remove it, and build the tools that help platforms detect and block it before it spreads.
The Problem
Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is one of the fastest-growing categories of illegal content online. In 2023 alone, the IWF confirmed and actioned over 392,000 URLs hosting child sexual abuse imagery — a record high. The content is increasingly severe, increasingly involving very young children, and increasingly AI-generated.
What They Do
- —Operate a 24/7 hotline for the public to report child sexual abuse material found online
- —Work with internet companies, hosting providers, and platforms to remove illegal content within hours
- —Maintain the IWF URL list — a real-time blocklist used by ISPs and platforms globally
- —Build and distribute hash-matching technology (PhotoDNA integration) to prevent re-upload of known CSAM
- —Advocate for stronger legislation and platform accountability at national and international level
Impact
Since 1996, the IWF has helped remove millions of child abuse images from the internet. Their URL blocklist is used by virtually every major UK ISP and many global platforms. Their hash-matching tools have prevented billions of re-uploads of known abuse material. They are widely regarded as the global gold standard in online child protection.
392,000 URLs removed.
In a single year.
Thorn's Safer platform is used by 1 in 3 child-serving organisations in the US to detect and report child sexual abuse material.
Technology built
to defend children.
Founded in 2012 by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse and trafficking. Their flagship product, Safer, is used by platforms and organisations worldwide to detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse material — and to identify victims faster.
Finding the lost.
Protecting the found.
Established by Congress in 1984, NCMEC is America's leading nonprofit organisation working to protect children from abduction, abuse, and exploitation. They operate the national missing children hotline, the CyberTipline for reporting online exploitation, and work directly with law enforcement on active cases.
The Scale of the Crisis
In the United States, an estimated 800,000 children are reported missing every year — roughly one every 40 seconds. Online enticement reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline have increased by over 300% in the last five years. The exploitation of children online is not declining — it is accelerating.
What They Do
- —Operate the 24/7 national missing children hotline (1-800-THE-LOST)
- —Run the CyberTipline — the US clearinghouse for online child sexual exploitation reports, receiving millions of tips annually
- —Provide case management and support to families of missing children
- —Distribute age-progression photos and alerts to law enforcement and the public
- —Train law enforcement, prosecutors, and child welfare professionals on exploitation cases
- —Operate the Child Victim Identification Program to identify victims in abuse imagery
One child goes missing
every 40 seconds.
OUR has supported operations in over 40 countries, working alongside local law enforcement to identify and rescue victims of trafficking.
Rescue.
Restore. Rebuild.
Founded in 2013 by Tim Ballard, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) works with governments and law enforcement agencies around the world to identify, disrupt, and dismantle child trafficking networks. They fund operations, provide intelligence, and support the aftercare of survivors.
A world without
human trafficking.
Named after the North Star that guided enslaved people to freedom, Polaris Project is one of the world's leading anti-trafficking organisations. They operate the US National Human Trafficking Hotline, conduct research into trafficking networks, and work to disrupt the systems that enable exploitation.
The Hotline
Polaris operates the US National Human Trafficking Hotline — a 24/7, confidential resource for survivors, witnesses, and those at risk. Since 2007, the hotline has received over 75,000 reports of human trafficking cases, connected thousands of survivors to services, and provided critical intelligence to law enforcement.
What They Do
- —Operate the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888), available 24/7 in 200+ languages
- —Conduct deep research into trafficking networks — including labour trafficking, sex trafficking, and online exploitation
- —Publish the annual Trafficking in America report, the most comprehensive dataset on US trafficking cases
- —Advocate for legislative change to close legal loopholes that enable traffickers to operate with impunity
- —Partner with businesses, hotels, and transport companies to train staff to recognise and report trafficking
Why the Name
Polaris is named after the North Star — the fixed point in the sky that guided enslaved people north to freedom along the Underground Railroad. The name is a deliberate statement: that freedom is a fixed point, a destination worth navigating toward, no matter how long the journey.
Protection is not passive.
It requires action.
Every contribution to E•M•A•N•C•I•P•A•T•I•O•N flows directly to the organisations on this page — the ones removing abuse material, rescuing victims, and building the systems that keep children safe. Join the mission.