The OCSEA response in West Africa requires urgent strengthening, says report
Immediate measures are needed to tackle online child sexual abuse in West Africa, the UN calls for comprehensive policy reform to address trafficking connected to online fraud, and a child safety group is campaigning for Apple to remove CSAM from its iCloud platform.
A report into the prevalence of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) in West Africa has found that urgent action is required to prevent devastating consequences for individuals at risk. The research reveals gaps and shortcomings in victim identification, protection and prosecution, amid an increasing pervasiveness in OCSEA risk factors across the West African region.
Although evidence and data regarding the regional prevalence and trends of OCSEA are scarce, preliminary findings, based on existing industry reporting and interviews with government and non-government stakeholders in-country, indicate that OCSEA is more widespread across the report’s focus countries of Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana than official data suggests. This would align with global trends, particularly in regions with weak OCSEA identification processes and high levels of under-reporting.
As seen in other countries, the vulnerabilities for OCSEA across West Africa include expanding access to the internet and electronic media among children, coupled with low awareness of digital threats and widespread economic hardship. Other trends, such as fast urbanization, growing sex tourism, political instability, conflict, and natural disasters, also constitute indirect risk factors according to the study, which was produced by Organised Crime: West African Response to Trafficking (OCWAR-T) and published by the ENACT project.
However, across all three countries, there are significant gaps in protection and prevention, including a lack of awareness and understanding of the problem, inadequate resources, poor coordination between agencies and organizations, insufficient training for frontline workers, and limited policy enforcement. Legally mandated procedures for victim protection and support are also reportedly lacking, with government entities mostly relying on under-resourced and under-funded NGOs and CSOs to provide victim support services.
Furthermore, victim identification and reporting across the three focus countries are hampered by four central shortcomings: low awareness and persisting stigmatization of OCSEA victims; under-reporting and a lack of aggregated data to assess prevalence and trends; low responsiveness to OCSEA reports; and a lack of adequately capacitated human resources and funding.
While the ECOWAS Child Policy 2019-30 recognizes the vulnerability of children using the internet, its associated plan of action provides little in the way of concrete objectives or guidance for policymakers, say researchers. Meanwhile, stakeholders highlight the lack of collaboration between law enforcement and the private sector, at both the national and regional levels, as another key challenge. The lack of collaboration with the tech sector is particularly problematic as it is crucial in combating OCSEA, especially in building capacity to carry out public awareness campaigns, educational training, online investigations, and prosecutions, they add.
Addressing these challenges will require sustained political will and commitment – and greater prioritization of OCSEA in a crowded policy agenda, the report concludes. It will also require the development of effective strategies to promote trust and collaboration among all stakeholders involved in fighting organized crime in West Africa.
Fortunately, states have started to implement data-gathering practices which should allow them to fully recognize the scale of the challenge in their geographies. Governments in the three focus countries have increasingly implemented awareness-raising campaigns for children and caregivers on the signs of child sexual exploitation, internet security, and protection of personal data, and growing engagement in OCSEA awareness in educational institutions is also promising.
This is an opportune moment for ECOWAS states to take action and implement practical measures to prevent the expansion of OCSEA and strengthen identification and follow-up processes, says the report.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
The Human Trafficking Legal Center, along with a U.S. law firm, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of six members of Congress, in a case involving Cambodian workers subjected to forced labour in a Thai shrimp factory. The brief aims to advise the Ninth Circuit that their interpretation of the anti-trafficking statute in the case is incorrect.
Last week, the UNODC published a policy brief highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive policy reforms to address the widespread forced involvement of hundreds of thousands of people in online criminal activities in Southeast Asia. The report underscores the importance of strengthening human rights protections, governance, and the rule of law, while ensuring victims receive rehabilitation and remedy instead of facing criminal prosecution or immigration penalties.
And this summary report, derived from discussions within the Mekong-U.S. Partnership Track 1.5 Policy Dialogue series, outlines recommendations for addressing trafficking and cyber-enabled crime, including increased local authority capacity, improved data-sharing, and support for victims.
The Heat Initiative has launched a new national advertising campaign, for which it raised US$2 million, calling on Apple to detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse materials from its iCloud storage platform. The campaign, timed ahead of Apple’s annual iPhone unveiling, is led by child safety advocates and investors who are pressing Apple to take more action to protect children online, while the company remains caught between privacy and child safety concerns.
The UK government is facing warnings that rejecting proposed reforms aimed at ensuring supply chains are free from forced labour could result in the country becoming a dumping ground for products sourced from China’s Xinjiang province. A proposed amendment to the energy bill, supported by members of the foreign affairs select committee and senior backbenchers, seeks to compel solar energy companies to prove their supply chains are free from slave labour, with Xinjiang’s role in supplying crucial materials for the solar photovoltaic industry of particular concern.
Meanwhile sustainable investment firm CCLA, along with a coalition of investors, is urging UK-listed companies to enhance their efforts to address modern slavery, human trafficking, and forced labour in their supply chains, as part of its initiative to combat these issues, strengthen public policy, and improve data transparency.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Salvation Army/Wilberforce Institute Modern Slavery Conference, which was due to take place on 27-28 September, has been postponed until spring 2024. Full details, including dates, venues and an overview of the event, will be shared in due course.
Important notice from VCMS/RecollectiV, Inc.: It has been determined that in the best interests of the Victim Case Management System (VCMS)/RecollectiV, Inc., former CEO Ayesha Lissanevitch should be replaced by Duncan Jepson, who is now Acting CEO. Ms Lissanevitch is no longer on the board of RecollectiV, Inc. During the past three weeks, Duncan has been in communication with most NGOs using VCMS but a small number have yet to respond. He’d be very grateful to hear from them to update them, and also to hear from any other NGOs with outstanding issues or queries. Please contact Duncan here.
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