Evidence from 13 countries on the context, threats, and children’s perspectives of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
In a unique collaboration ECPAT International, INTERPOL and UNICEF have combined forces to assess the context, threat and collect children’s perspectives of online child sexual exploitation and abuse in 13 countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa. This ground-breaking project was made possible with funding from the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children through its Safe Online initiative. Not only does the combined expertise of the partners makes this project unique, but Disrupting Harm also creates the possibility to compare across the 13 countries.
The countries included in the project are Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The success of the first phase of the project has led to a renewed $7 million commitment in 2022 and expansion in 12 countries across 4 regions leading to a total investment of $15 million across 25 countries.
ECPAT conducted a comprehensive analysis of the existing research, legislation, policy, and systems addressing online child sexual exploitation and abuse for each target country, as well as collect data in the 13 countries.
For each country, INTERPOL collected data law enforcement agencies, NGOs and the Internet industry to measure the scope and nature of the problem. INTERPOL also conducted a needs analysis of the capacity of law enforcement agencies to counter online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
UNICEF conducted nationally-representative household surveys with around 1,000 children and 1,000 of their caregivers in each of the 13 partner countries. The purpose was to hear directly from children and parents about children’s online experiences.
Disrupting Harm: Conversations With Young Survivors About Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse centres the perspectives of young survivors from 5 of the 13 countries included in the research project. The conversations focus on understanding and interpreting what these young people were subjected to, as well as their ideas concerning the best solutions. Read the full report:
Disrupting Harm: Conversations With Young Survivors About Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Leveraging the unique and comprehensive evidence gathered, Disrupting Harm identifies practical and actionable solutions to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation both online and offline. The country reports share the findings of children’s perceptions of and participation in various online practices, as well as expose their experiences of online child sexual exploitation and abuse across 13 countries: Kenya, Uganda, Thailand, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Philippines, Viet Nam, Namibia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Mozambique, and South Africa.
South Africa
Disrupting Harm in South Africa – National Report
Disrupting Harm in South Africa – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework Analysis
Mozambique
Disrupting Harm in Mozambique – National Report English | Portuguese
Disrupting Harm in Mozambique – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Legal Framework Analysis
Cambodia
Disrupting Harm in Cambodia – National Report English | Khmer
Disrupting Harm in Cambodia – Advocacy Brief English | Khmer
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Malaysia
Disrupting Harm in Malaysia – National Report English | Malay
Disrupting Harm in Malaysia – Advocacy Brief English | Malay
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Indonesia
Disrupting Harm in Indonesia – National Report English | Bahasa
Disrupting Harm in Indonesia – Advocacy Brief English | Bahasa
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Namibia
Disrupting Harm in Namibia – National Report
Disrupting Harm in Namibia – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Viet Nam
Disrupting Harm in Viet Nam – National Report English | Vietnamese
Disrupting Harm in Viet Nam – Advocacy Brief English | Vietnamese
Preliminary Reports
Legal Framework analysis
The Philippines
Disrupting Harm in the Philippines – National Report
Disrupting Harm in the Philippines – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Ethiopia
Disrupting Harm in Ethiopia – National Report English | Amharic
Disrupting Harm in Ethiopia – Advocacy Brief English | Amharic
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Legal Framework analysis
Tanzania
Disrupting Harm in Tanzania – National Report
Disrupting Harm in Tanzania – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Thailand
Disrupting Harm in Thailand – National Report English | Thai
Disrupting Harm in Thailand – Advocacy Brief English | Thai
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework analysis
Uganda
Disrupting Harm in Uganda – National Report
Disrupting Harm in Uganda – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework Analysis
Kenya
Disrupting Harm in Kenya – Report
Disrupting Harm in Kenya – Advocacy Brief
Preliminary Reports
Interviews with Government Duty Bearers
Frontline Workers’ Survey
Access to Justice Interviews with Children and Caregivers
Access to Justice Interviews with Justice Professionals
Legal Framework Analysis
As part of the Disrupting Harm research project, various forms of research activities were undertaken to explore the scope and context of online child sexual exploitation and abuse in each country. Learn more below:
Interviews with Government Duty-Bearers
Frontline Social Service Providers’ Survey
Accessing Justice Interviews with Children, Caregivers and Justice Professionals
National Desk Reviews and Legal Analysis
Conversations with Survivors
The Data Insights are part of a series of thematic briefs that explores pressing issues emerging from the research and recommends ways for key entities and individuals to improve prevention and response.
Data Insight 1: Children’s experiences of online sexual exploitation and abuse in 12 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia
Data Insight 2: Children’s disclosures of online sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 3: Access to justice and legal remedies for children subjected to online sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 4: Legislation addressing online child sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 5: Promising government interventions addressing online child sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 6: The relationship between online and in-person child sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 7: The role of social media in facilitating Online child sexual exploitation and abuse
Data Insight 8: Who perpetrates online child Sexual exploitation and abuse?
Data Insight 9: The role of caregivers in preventing Online risks and harms for children
Data Insight 10: Law enforcement capacity in online Child sexual exploitation and abuse cases
ECPAT wishes to acknowledge the hard work that made this project possible from the ECPAT member organisations in each country and a large team of ECPAT colleagues and researchers.