Child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the most serious violations of children’s rights. Today, much of this abuse is planned, facilitated, and shared online. Across Europe, law enforcement authorities and forensic experts work to infiltrate networks, identify victims, and bring perpetrators to justice, often under high‑risk and emotionally demanding conditions.
Yet even when investigations are thorough and courageous, cases can still fail. A key reason: digital evidence that is vital to protecting children may be ruled inadmissible in court because laws, procedures, and standards differ from one country to another. When that happens, a child’s chance at justice can be lost not because investigators fell short, but because systems did.
SALVUS was created to help change that.
What is SALVUS?
SALVUS – Ensuring Safer Justice Outcomes in Online and Undercover Child Sexual Abuse Investigations – is a Horizon Europe research and innovation project, co‑funded by SERI (Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation). Over 36 months (June 2025 – May 2028), SALVUS brings together 13 partner organisations across nine countries. The consortium combines legal, technical, and human‑rights expertise to develop safer justice outcomes through an increased understanding of the EU-wide legal aspects of online investigations, including undercover, in the area of child sexual abuse.
At its core, SALVUS adopts a child‑centred, human-rights-based approach. It looks at legal frameworks, technologies, inequalities, power imbalances, and discriminatory practices that prevent some children from accessing justice.
The Challenge: Making Justice Work Across Borders
Online CSA investigations are technically complex and emotionally demanding. They must balance child protection, fundamental rights, and fast‑changing technologies. Because online offences routinely cross borders, they are also governed by different national laws and procedures.
Six major challenges stand out for investigators today:
- Technology evolves faster than the law can keep up.
- Evidence often spans multiple jurisdictions with different legal standards.
- Privacy and data protection create additional layers of complexity.
- Artificial intelligence and automated tools raise questions about fairness and accountability.
- Encrypted networks and dark‑web activity make detecting offenders even more difficult.
- Investigators face emotional and psychological strain from continuous exposure to traumatic material.
Addressing these challenges is about creating clarity, consistency, and compassion in how Europe investigates and prosecutes these crimes.
What SALVUS Does
SALVUS turns these challenges into concrete lines of work. The project focuses on different areas, such as:
- Understanding of legal framework and investigation landscape for CSA online and Ethics. We are examining how digital evidence is collected, analysed, and managed in CSA cases — and how this work affects investigators themselves. Alongside legal and technical research, we focus on the human stories behind the data: how this demanding work impacts wellbeing, resilience, and professional judgement.
- Safeguarding Children’s Rights. SALVUS explores how investigative methods can better respect children’s rights, dignity, and best interests. Drawing on research from across Europe, we are developing guidance for ethical, victim‑centred investigations that uphold fundamental rights and democratic values while delivering robust results.
- Creating Accessible Resources. We are developing an online platform filled with practical guidance, case examples, and training materials, a living resource on European best practice in online and undercover CSA investigations.
- Protecting Evidence and Privacy. The project is exploring secure storage, encryption, and anonymisation measures to keep digital evidence safe and protect victims’ identities. Justice should never come at the cost of a child’s privacy or safety.
- Sharing Knowledge and Building Collaboration. Research only matters when it reaches those who can use it. That is why SALVUS prioritises clear communication and partnership. Policy briefs, webinars, workshops, and multilingual materials will share findings with investigators, policymakers, and legal professionals across Europe. A key element of this work is the creation of the Practitioner’s Network, enabling over 200 experts to shape and test project outcomes directly.
- Training and Capacity Building. We are transforming research insights into professional training. New modules on trauma‑informed practice, fundamental rights, and mental health will help professionals strengthen both their investigative skills and their own well-being, because protecting children starts with caring for those who protect them.
Anticipated Impact: Stronger Systems, Safer Justice
A Shared Vision: Safer Justice for Every Child. SALVUS envisions a Europe where justice for children is safe, consistent, and reliable; where every victim’s voice is heard and no perpetrator escapes accountability because of legal gaps.
Justice for children should never depend on where a case is heard. That is the mission of SALVUS and the promise we are working to deliver.
Working With Practitioners, Not Just For Them
Meaningful progress happens when research is grounded in real‑world experience. SALVUS is built on collaboration, bringing practitioners into the process from day one. Through the Practitioner’s Network, professionals from law enforcement, forensics, legal practice, and child protection share their insights, review findings, and help design solutions that work in practice.
Join the SALVUS Practitioner’s Network
If you work in law enforcement, digital forensics, the judiciary, child protection, or related fields, you can help shape the SALVUS project and shape the guidance we produce.
Apply to join the Practitioner’s Network. Your insight strengthens justice for children.
- Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
- Project funded by Swiss Confederation. State Secretariat for Education Research and Innovation SERI.
