Global Summit to Tackle Online Child Sexual Exploitation, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ChildSafeNet president Anil Raghuvanshi participated as a delegate in the Global Summit to Tackle Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 11 to 12 December 2019.

The Global Summit, co-hosted by the African Union, the WePROTECT Global Alliance and the UK Government. The event brought together high-level representatives of governments, the private sector/ industry, civil society organizations, regional mechanisms/ entities, and specialized agencies of the United Nations. More than 400 participants from 93 countries are participating in the two-day Summit.

During the two-day event, the Nepal Government delegatation was represented by Mr Rajendra Paudel, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens and Mr Gyanendra Shrestha, Programme Advisor of National Child Rights Council.

Across the two-day event, delegates provided with the knowledge, tools and networks required to understand the nature and prevalence of online child sexual exploitation, and the means to implement a strategic global response.

The main objectives of the summit were to:

 1.       Raise attention and enhance understanding of online child sexual exploitation amongst high-level decision makers;

 2.       Hear from political leaders, senior representatives from international organizations and subject-matter experts on the threat;

 3.       Exchange experiences, good practice and positive developments amongst WePROTECT members and strengthen solidarity within the Alliance;

4. Launch a range of key products, including a new Global Threat Assessment and Strategic Global Response to inform the global response to online child sexual exploitation;

 5.       Incorporate the voices of children, including survivors of online child sexual exploitation, and have them heard by key decision makers;

 6.       Facilitate breakout sessions, including on the technology landscape, regional threats and resilience-building among children;

 7.       Encourage the expansion of the WePROTECT Global Alliance and welcome new members into the Alliance; and

 8. Launch the revised structure of the WePROTECT Global Alliance and its priorities for coming two years.

The Guest of Honour at the Opening Ceremony of the Global Summit was H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia who welcomed the participants of the Summit on behalf of the government and people of Ethiopia. She reiterated the importance of the forum in order to promote a common understanding on OCSE related issues. She underlined that no society is immune from this virus and noted the importance of collective efforts to prevent our children from OCSE.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the meeting, Her Excellency Amira Elfadil, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs emphasized that the Global Summit on OCSE takes place at a time the world is facing a transnational crime of enormous proportions. “Internet connectivity and usage has continued to expand rapidly in Africa and though this has brought great social and economic benefits to the region, it has also exposed children to greater risk of Online Child Sexual Exploitation”, the Commissioner for Social Affairs emphasised.

During the opening ceremony, Baroness Joanna Shields, Founder of WePROTECT Global Alliance and Former UK Minister for Internet Safety & Security from 2015-17, and current CEO of the company BenevolentAI, urged participants of the Global Summit to Tackle OCSE by putting this urgent issue in the forefront of the global agenda and to work together to combat it for future generations. She emphasized the importance of actions by global, regional organizations and governments to treat OCSE the same way as preventing an epidemic from spreading.

The opening ceremony was also addressed by Mr Ernie Allen, Chairperson of WePROTECT Global Alliance. He noted that the Global Threat Assessment 2019 will be considered at the the Summit. “The experience of survivors must be at the heart of our response” emphasized Mr. Allen.

During the Global Summit, WePROTECT Global Alliance released its 2019 Global Threat Assessment related to online child sexual exploitation today. The report revealed that in 2018, tech companies in the US had 18.4 million referrals of child sexual abuse materials to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. Tech companies in the US are required by 18. U.S.C 2258A to reports such cases to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). These referrals contained over 45.8 million images & videos. 2/3 of these imagines and videos came from Facebook messenger. If end-2-end encryption is implemented by Facebook for its Messenger, all these referrals will disappear. Keeping children safe online must be a top priority. Children's right to protection should be respected while taking into account the privacy issue.

Facebook and Microsoft representatives spoke about the technologies they have put in place to protect children online including Photo DNA that detects sexual abuse images. According to Facebook, reportedly detected and removed millions of images in 2018 alone, 99% of which were removed without any reporting. The concern among participants was the “privatization” of child protection instead of it being one of good will. Legal challenges related to prosecuting offenders brought about by privacy laws were discussed. In the end participants urged for a balance between the right to freedom of expression and privacy on one hand, and right to protection on the other.