Sweden, Norway, and Estonia organised the first conference on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Baltic Sea Region in Tallinn in September 1998. The meeting emphasised the importance of multidisciplinary work and supported a stronger regional collaboration on the issue as well as to broaden the mandate to include children at risk in regional collaboration. Sweden and others wanted to target all sexual exploitation of children, not just commercial.
The term ‘Children at Risk’ came into use, which eventually became the formal name of the cooperation as an umbrella term for the diverse needs and priorities of all CBSS member states, notably Russia’s interest in street children and children in institutions.