Session
Organizer 1: Laura Turner, Home Office
Organizer 2: Aicha Jeridi, Africa Civil Society for the Information Society
Organizer 3: Arda Gerkens, EOKM/ Senate
Speaker 1: Paul Ghent, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Iain Drennan, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Tracy Sartin, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Anjan Bose – UNICEF Susie Hargreaves – CEO, Internet Watch Foundation Samantha Woolfe - InHOPE Fredrik Hansen- Security Expert-Futurity Cisse Kane – ACSIS Geneva Aicha Jeridi - civil society Arda Gerkens - civil society
Jutta Croll
Tracy Sartin
Paul Ghent
Other - 90 Min
Format description: This session will involve a 30 minute presentation in a 'flash session' format, with speakers presenting the issue and emerging risks of online child sexual exploitation, based on the latest research into the threat at the global level (Global Threat Assessment - to be launched the week before the IGF) and an overview of the proposed global strategic response, followed by a 30 minute session for Q&A from attendees.
The WPGA combines the expertise, views and perspectives of civil society, law enforcement, government and industry, and the Global Strategic Response will incoorporate comtributions form all sectors. Views will also be represented from Holland and Africa - with civil society representatives from Africa speaking to the challenges the African region faces, and representatives from Holland talking about a possible approach to encouraging greater action and engagement from industry.
Session speakers have been selected to represent a diversity of backgrounds, and belonging to diverse stakeholders groups. They represent Academia, legal, internet infrastructure experts , and Civil society Activists.They also have been selected from different continents with diverse background and different countries, which willbe reflected in the experience they screen during the workshop
Overview – first 15 minutes: With increasing evidence demonstrating how under-prepared the world is to protect children online, this session will firstly set the scene and describe the problem from various angles. Speakers will focus on case-stories and testimonials of the threats faced by children online –with case studies from various countries and the African region. The workshop will be introduced by Aicha who will engage audience members with the various threats the online world poses to children today. Case studies from various countries and esp. the African Region will showcase the ways in which children are harmed by the online world. Speakers from INHOPE and WeProtect will outline the threat of child sexual exploitation online. 1. Starting with the identification of the threats with an expert in cybersecurity [Frederic Hanson] he will also discuss the current response and capabilities from the African region, and what needs to be in place to safeguard children from online harms 2. Susie Hargreaves (CEO – Internet Watch Foundation) will provide an overview of the threat of online child sexual exploitation, drawing on findings from the WePROTECT Global Alliance’s Global Threat Assessment (5-10 minutes) Attendee discussion - 15 minutes: The session will then host a discussion with attendees to seek their views and insights on factors driving vulnerability to the threats posed to children via the online world today. Overview – second part 30 minutes: In the second part the session will focus on a strategy for global action to address online child sexual exploitation featuring different models for action: - 1. Attempts to address the problem undertaken by African countries, including Uganda and Namibia (2 – 3 examples) - 2. Anjan Bose from Unicef will present the WePROTECT Global Alliance’s Model National Response (MNR) and launch a brochure of working examples collected from countries to demonstrate the variety in which the MNR is being implemented across the world (15 minutes) - 3. the Dutch strategy to fight child sexual abuse material by instituting a National Authority on the issue of CSAM For speaking slot 2, Anjan Bose will describe how the WePROTECT Global Alliance’s Model National Response (MNR) can support countries to tackle online child sexual exploitation. The MNR is a multi-stakeholder model that incorporates responsibilities from civil society, industry and government to create a comprehensive and coordinated national response to online CSE. Anjan will then present a set of working examples collected from countries to demonstrate the variety of ways the MNR is being implemented around the world, to outline that whilst the MNR is a consistent framework – the way in which it is implemented varies according to country priorities and capabilities. The discussion will then move towards how countries can effectively respond to the online threats posed to children today..[Mohamed Farahat] will shed the light on the legal aspect of the issue, he will display different legal decisions and expend on the sphere of action that legal texts in Africa allow. [Dr.CisseKan]will then elaborate on the role of the African Civil society NGO’s to protect children from online abuses . As a second model speakers from the Netherlands will elaborate on the legal bodies proposed in the Netherlands to have a private-public entity to fight CSAM. We will discuss the technical possibilities, the responsibilities of the industry and the challenges hotlines encounter. Is the Dutch model the way to go? Can we leave law enforcement tasks in the hand of private bodies? We will kick off with the developments in The Netherlands and explore along the line with the speakers on these developments and other that are occuring in the world. The workshop will conclude – if possible – with messages how to tackle threats to child online safety. Messages may address questions of responsibility of the technical community and platform providers, appropriateness of different models to the situation in the respective countries, states’ responsibility towards children’s rights to participation, provision and protection, last but not least the necessity of funding.
We will have participant engagement during the workshop, with a 15 minute time slot to engage with participants during the first half of the 90 minute session, and a further 15 minute session during the second half of the workshop. Participant questions will be fielded by the on-site moderator and rapportuer, participants will be encouraged to keen their contributions breif to allow engagement/comments and questions from as many attendees as possible. We will also operate an online participation app called Slide.com to ensure the most popular questions are answered during the workshop.
The internet has made it easier than ever before to connect people all around the world, and children are increasingly one of the biggest consumers of new internet enabled devices (almost all now sold with webcams). The presence of 800 million minors online – many of whom are unsupervised – has made it easier for those who seek to harm children, to communicate with children to act out their harmful intentions. The internet, with its borderless reach,creates a mechanism for borderless harm. To protect children from online harms we need to understand what harm can be committed online, the impact of harmful behaviour and how to prevent it. A digital world report estimates that one in three Internet users today is a child, thanks to the proliferation of digital technologies like cell phones, computers, and tablets. So,children are exposed to an increasing number of great risks online: whether through social media or games or websites they visit.These risks include Cyberbullying ,Cyberpredators or Posting Private Information into cyberspace,or else Accidentally Downloading Malware Posts that Come Back to Haunt a Child Later in Life. Amost alarming online risk is the issue of online child sexual exploitation. Evidence from law enforcement and research demonstrates that those with a sexual interest in children take advantage of technology and join forces with other offenders to abuse and exploit children on mass scale, including paying to watch the abuse of children live-streamed, sharing images of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and grooming children online to commit further offences. The scale of the problem of online child sexual exploitation is already stark, and continues to grow. Some 25 Million child sexual abuse images were reviewed by the US based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2015 - up from 450,000 in 2004. With a borderless crime, we need a borderless response, and the WePROTECT Global Alliance (WPGA) is that response. The WPGA’s mission is to transform the way online child sexual exploitation is dealt with around the world, through supporting everyone to take action against it. Comprised of representatives from law enforcement, governments, civil society and industry, the WPGA has developed guidance on the multi-stakeholder capabilities a country needs to have in place to respond to online child sexual exploitation. How can countries around the world support each other to respond to online child sexual exploitation? The amount of CSAM online is rising. Law Enforcement and hotlines cannot stop this growth. How can industry help? How can we tackle this problem together? The Dutch minister of Justice and Security is looking for public-private partnership in this. This would be a new form of fighting online child sexual abuse material. How could that work?
We will use the online participation app Slido.com - which participants can sign into using on-site wifi, and post questions either anonymously or in name. Other participants are able to support the questions they would most like to see answered leading to an automatic prioritisation of the most popular/supported questions at the top. The Slido app will be available throughout the session, so participants can pose a question at any time without disturbing the flow of the presentation during the first half hour. The online moderator will ask the speakers to answer the most popular questions, and the discussion will be facilitaed by the Rapporteur.
Reference Document: https://www.weprotect.org/our-mission-and-strategy/
Agenda of the session Time Theme and speakers 15 Min Setting the scene and describing the problems Speaker – Frederic Hanson, speaker B – Susie Hargreaves 15 Min Questions from the floor 30 Min Description of three approaches:African attempts,WeProtectDutch Authority model 20 Min. Debate with participants 10 Min Wrap up and conclusion: Messages
Report
- Session Type (Workshop, Open Forum, etc.): Workshop - Title: Protecting Children Online: Risks and Public-Private Responses - Date & Time: Tuesday 13 November, 10:40-12:10 - Organizer(s): 1. Laura Turner: UK Home Office – WePROTECT Global Alliance 2. Aicha Jeridi, Africa Civil Society for the Information Society 3. Arda Gerkens- Dutch Hotline - Chair/Moderator: Jutta Croll - Rapporteur/Notetaker: Paris Huxley - List of speakers and their institutional affiliations (Indicate male/female/ transgender male/ transgender female/gender variant/prefer not to answer): Anjan Bose (M) – UNICEF Susie Hargreaves – (F) CEO, Internet Watch Foundation Samantha Woolfe – (F) InHOPE Fredrik Hansen- (M) Security Expert-Futurity Cisse Kane – (F) ACSIS Geneva - Theme (as listed here): Human Rights, Gender and Youth - Subtheme (as listed here): Child online safety - Please state no more than three (3) key messages of the discussion. [150 words or less] 1. The emergence of the internet and developments in technology has made it easier than ever for people to connect and learn in ways previously unimagined, but with new possibilities come new risks. It has never been easier for those who would seek to do our children harm, the potential to do so online. Countries around the world are now grappling with the online threats, and we will hear from representatives from the African region to outline some of the risks children face online today. 2. One of the most insidious online threats children face today is online child sexual exploitation. Those with a sexual interest in children can now access the means through which they can produce, distribute and possess child sexual abuse material, and to make contact with potential child victims anywhere in the world. The WePROTECT Global Alliance will explore how countries and organisations working together can combat the threat of online child sexual exploitation (CSE) at the national level. 3. Key to addressing the threat of online CSE is industry engagement and willingness to act. The session will also therefore, cover public-private sector models for addressing the issue of online CSE.
Please elaborate on the discussion held, specifically on areas of agreement and divergence.
- Agreement reached on the need to take seriously the threats posed to children online today – and the need to address the existing and emerging risks to their safety and prosperity online.
- There was broad support on the need for a multi-stakeholder response, and that the WePROTECT Global Alliance is uniquely positioned to provide that response to online child sexual exploitation.
- The WePROTECT Global Alliance’s Model National Response was endorsed as a holistic, non-proscriptive model that allows countries to take ownership of their response to online CSEA and that more effective sharing of information is important to help countries and stakeholders to build their response capabilities.
- In all aspects of child protection online, agreement was reached on the need to factor and build responses around local contexts and cultures.
- Agreement was reached on the need to deliver a quality education to children that included guidance on navigating the digital arena and understanding healthy sexual behaviours and relationships.
- Agreement was also reached on the need to address supply and demand in combating online threats to children, and the need to draw on industry and the private sector expertise to deliver digital solutions that are safer by design.
- Please describe any policy recommendations or suggestions regarding the way forward/potential next steps.
- A participant advocated the idea to address the phenomenon based on administrative law. This is currently being reviewed by the Netherlands for an independent authority on online child sexual exploitation (at the national level) to assess industry responses to remove, block or takedown online CSE content and their efficacy.
- A participant advocated for additional resources to be diverted to the WePROTECT Global Alliance and EVAC Fund to build their impact and expand on the evidence available via the ‘booklet of working examples’ launched at the IGF
- A participant from the private sector advocated for consistency in terms of language and definitions of the online threat types children face (e.g. some countries make child pornography illegal whereas others do not use the term ‘child pornography’ but still make it illegal.) The Luxemburg Guidelines were mentioned as a useful resource in this regard that should be applied globally: http://luxembourgguidelines.org)
- A panel member from the Netherlands advocated on the need for national and international legal frameworks to enable the effective sharing of information to stop the production and distribution of online child sexual exploitation and abuse material
- A panel member advocated the need for greater importance to be placed on child safety online, and greater investment to mobilise a global response to match the scale of the borderless threats children face via the reach of the internet.
- A zero tolerance strategy towards child sexual abuse was demanded based on the UN-Convention on the rights of the child, Art. 34 - Please estimate the total number of participants.
There were approximately 90 attendees present, gender equally balanced.