The Global Fund to Prevent Violence against Children

Transcription

1 The Global Fund to Prevent Violence against Children

2 There are children out there, vulnerable children, who are counting on us to get this right. Every single child is precious. Every child deserves a childhood. To have that window of innocence and to be protected from harm. (The Rt Hon David Cameron MP, WePROTECT Children Online Global Summit, London, 11 December 2014)

3 The Origins and Aims of the Fund Online child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a heinous crime and a global issue. It is a growing threat to girls and boys in every country and tackling it requires coordinated global action by governments, law enforcement, industry and civil society. Last December, the UK s Prime Minister David Cameron hosted the WePROTECT Children Online Summit in London. This was an event of unprecedented scale, bringing together all of those with a responsibility for protecting children online. The summit secured globally significant commitments from 50 governments and international organisations, 20 leading technology companies and 10 civil society organisations. At the summit, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would work with UNICEF to establish a new Global Fund to Prevent Violence against Children, with an initial focus on protecting children from online CSE. The Fund will deliver the capabilities countries need to: identify and protect victims remove child sexual abuse material from the internet, and co-operate across the world to track down perpetrators In 2015 UNICEF delivered the start of a global programme in 17 countries and four regions with 5m. Further donations will ensure countries can develop a national response against online child sexual exploitation. There should be no safe havens for this crime.

4 Donating to the Global Fund The Fund will allow your government or company to earmark money specifically to combat online child sexual exploitation. The Fund will also encompass the wider strategic objectives of preventing violence against children as set out in target 16.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals. A 1m donation could establish 4 child helpline teams to deliver a 24/7 response over a year so children know that they are not alone and can access support. A 5m donation would deliver an operationally effective law enforcement response across a region within three years to deal with online child sexual exploitaion through the provision of equipment, training and operational assistance. A 10m donation could get a national image database up and running in 6 8 countries to identify offenders and protect victims.

5 Introducing the Model National Response Following the London Summit, the WePROTECT International Advisory Board commissioned the Model National Response to provide guidance and support to countries on the capabilities that a country needs to have in place to combat online child sexual exploitation, including preventing child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) and safeguarding the victims of this abuse. The model builds on many years of work by experts and practitioners. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive, defining the capabilities needed but not how they should be provided, as this will vary by country. Where a country identifies a need for support to develop a specific capability, international assistance can be accessed through the Global Fund.

6 Policy and Governance Legislation Clear, concise and robust legislation allows law enforcement aggressively to investigate and prosecute child sex offenders and identify and protect more victims. Crimes involving the sexual exploitation and abuse of children particularly those online can be multijurisdictional, with the offender resident in one country and the victim in another. Comprehensive and effective national legislation, drawing on or modelling existing international law, can strengthen a coordinated global approach. The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) researches and analyzes national legislation from around the world to identify best practice and useful models that may benefit other countries. For further information, please visit Criminal Justice Dedicated Law Enforcement - National remit; trained officers; proactive and reactive investigations; victim- focused; international cooperation A dedicated law enforcement capability is essential to ensuring an effective response to reports of child sexual exploitation & abuse (CSEA). It needs to act as a dedicated place where reports of CSEA can be received from the public and third parties, including industry, non-governmental organisations and international law enforcement; turn the reported information into actionable intelligence to enable an investigation to be undertaken; and conduct investigations to safeguard and protect CSEA victims and apprehend offenders. Such a capability will provide the public and third parties with the confidence to report CSEA, knowing that the information they provide will secure an increased number of successful judicial outcomes and an increased number of victims protected; and that the victim will be treated appropriately and supported throughout the investigation and beyond. For countries that do not currently have a dedicated CSEA law enforcement capability in place, the first step is for the national law enforcement agency to identify and commit to resourcing the development of this capability. With this commitment in place there are a number of national law enforcement agencies around the world who have experience of establishing and delivering a dedicated CSEA capability, using the multi-sector approach detailed above. Requests for advice and support from these agencies can be made through INTERPOL who will connect a country with a mutually agreeable partner law enforcement agency.

7 Criminal Justice Access to Image Databases The sharing of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) among law enforcement agencies (LEA) is critical to identify victims of online CSE. This enables details in one image to be matched against details in another to provide further information about the identity or whereabouts of the victim. The current investigative process relating to CSAM images follows a similar pattern across most jurisdictions. Law enforcement agencies receive information relating to a potential crime and through their investigation they obtain images from a range of devices. Use of a national image database reduces the risk for duplicate and repeated investigation of child sexual abuse material where the victim has already been located or it is already under investigation by another law enforcement agency. Given the global nature of the problem, such images need to be shared globally between LEAs. INTERPOL s International Child Sexual Exploitation database (ICSE) is available to INTERPOL s member countries and allows their respective LEAs to upload images and share images with colleagues around the world. ICSE uses image comparison software to make connections between victims, abusers and places on uploaded images. The start-up costs of establishing a national image database and training law enforcement can cost between one and two million. A donation to the Fund could enable a number of countries to increase their internal and cross-border sharing of information, to ensure more effective investigations of perpetrators and swifter protection of victims. Victim Child Helpline Children need to know that they are not alone. Establishing a child helpline provides children and young people with direct access to the support services they are in need of. Contacting a child helpline is often a child s first engagement and entry point with child protection services. A voluntary support and intervention service for children and young people, run by civil society and governments alike, can enhance child well-being, child protection and prevent child maltreatment. Ideally anonymous, free of charge, available 24/7 and available through a number of technologies, the helpline can range from simply listening to a child or young person who is unsure whether to report abuse to providing direct assistance in removing a child from a dangerous situation. Child Helpline International aims to strengthen child protection systems across the globe which includes working with local, regional and national stakeholders and partners to support the creation and consolidation of national free-of-charge child helplines worldwide. Members and partners are provided with vital opportunities to enhance your service through workshops, training and information sharing. Further information can be found at

8 Societal Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) Hotline A CSEA hotline provides an accessible and secure platform for the public and industry to report cases of suspected child sexual abuse material on the internet. An effective hotline can enable the efficient and effective removal of child sexual abuse material from the internet and will reassure the public and industry that reported cases, if found to be illegal, will be passed to the relevant law enforcement agency and / or Internet Service Provider (ISP) for further action. A dedicated hotline for the public and industry can allow them to anonymously report material they suspect to be illegal, including child sexual abuse material. Working in partnership with industry the content can be removed from the internet as quickly and effectively as possible, and refer the case to the right law enforcement agency. Once established a hotline will operate as part of the INHOPE international network of hotlines which work together to share information to stamp out child sexual abuse material from the internet wherever it may be found across the globe. The INHOPE Foundation supports the development of new internet hotlines worldwide, prioritising countries where child sexual abuse material is being facilitated, produced or distributed. This ensures that swift action can be taken in responding to reports of child sexual abuse material on the internet wherever the illegal material is found to be hosted. For those countries that already have a CSEA hotline, INHOPE also supports a hotline s long-term development and education on the issue. For further information, please visit Societal Education Programme A national education programme, raising awareness of both online and offline CSEA, provides an opportunity to discuss CSEA in schools and other formal settings, raising awareness by providing children with information about places to go for appropriate advice and support. The programme can help children and young people to better understand the risks of CSEA and the factors that could make them vulnerable which can empower them to protect themselves. It will also provide practitioners working with children with the knowledge and understanding to spot indicators of CSEA so they can better help victims and families to access the right support. The messages would be available at the national and local level and will be contemporary, effective and consistent by providing a range of engaging, age- appropriate resources including films, lesson plans and elearning.

9 Industry Notice and Takedown Procedures A notice and takedown procedure reduces the dissemination of child sexual abuse material on the internet by removing the content at source. This procedure does not rely on statutory regulation as self-regulation through cooperation with ISPs and other industry providers can be an effective mechanism for removing the material. A notice and takedown procedure system can also use technical measures such as blocking or filtering when the material is hosted in another jurisdiction, where there is no statutory or self-regulatory system in place to remove the material at source. This will disrupt offenders access to it, although it is not a long-term solution for the eradication of the material from the internet. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) offer a reporting Portal to countries, which allow them to benefit from IWF s Hotline best practice. A Portal can enable a country to protect their citizens from Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for as little as 10,000 in the first year of operation. For more information, visit: Industry Innovative Solution Development Technology companies have the expertise to predict technological developments and identify new and emerging online trends and patterns that could be exploited by child sex offenders. Combining this knowledge with law enforcement and NGO s knowledge of offender and victim behaviours will enhance the development of new approaches to staying ahead of offenders and safeguarding and protecting more victims and potential victims. There are a number of leading international organisations and initiatives that companies can participate in to access best practice advice and support and contribute to the development of innovative technical solutions. These include: The Technology Coalition sponsors the development of technology solutions that disrupt the ability to use the internet to sexually exploit children or distribute child sexual abuse material. It also seeks and creates platforms for collaboration across sectors ( Thorn partners across the tech industry, government and NGOs and leverages technology to combat predatory behaviour, rescue victims, and protect vulnerable children. (

10 How You Can Help A 1m donation could establish 4 child helpline teams to deliver a 24/7 response over a year so children know that they are not alone and can access support. A 5m donation would deliver an operationally effective law enforcement response across a region within three years to deal with online child sexual exploitaion through the provision of equipment, training and operational assistance. A 10m donation could get a national image database up and running in 6 8 countries to identify offenders and protect victims. Pledging a donation to combat online CSE at the Abu Dhabi Summit in November will: Demonstrate your global and regional leadership in preventing the heinous crime of online child sexual exploitation Reiterate your support for the Prime Minister s announcements at the 2014 London summit, as well as the WePROTECT initiative Create opportunities to partner with nations, regions, industry and civil society to implement solutions to the online exploitation of children around the world Build international capacity to strengthen law enforcement and criminal justice co-operation across the globe to track down, investigate and prosecute perpetrators Ensure that child victims of online CSE worldwide are identified, rescued and receive quality support services in accordance with international standards and practices Maximise the impact of your donation through the Fund s links to global efforts to prevent violence against children In addition, pledging support to the Fund will allow industry partners to: Expand even further on advancements in this field and ensure that this has truly global reach, by partnering with UNICEF s national and regional offices to implement solutions to online sexual exploitation of children around the world Build industry partnerships to ensure that child sexual abuse material on the internet is reported and removed worldwide Strengthen the evidence base on trends, drivers and effective interventions in online child sexual exploitation, which can be utilised to inform technological developments in child exploitation prevention.

11 Governance and Mechanisms to Deliver the Benefit The Fund will allow your government or company to earmark money specifically to combat online child sexual exploitation. The Fund will also encompass the wider strategic objectives of preventing violence against children as set out in SDG target Ahead of its formal launch in January 2016, it is envisaged that Fund donors would be engaged in the oversight of: Strategy and policy for the Fund; Grant approvals and disbursement of Fund resources; Reviewing the results of programmes funded by the Fund. The WePROTECT International Advisory Board will have a key role in the Fund structure, ensuring that leading law enforcement agencies, civil society organisations and technology companies in this field have the opportunity to inform and advise the work of the Fund. The Fund custodian which will be a UN body will be firewalled from all decision-making processes around the Fund. Photo Credit: Jamal Shahid, 2015, Pakistan To find out more and discuss the opportunity of donating to the Fund, please contact the WePROTECT team at: WeProtect@homeoffice.x.gsi.gov.uk To find out more about the work of UNICEF and others to meet SDG target 16.2, please visit: