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Disrupting Harm

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.

Context

ECPAT

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.

  • Up to 12 in-depth interviews with senior national duty-bearers from governments
  • Information from hot- and helplines and the Internet industry to complement INTERPOL’s threat assessment
  • Face-to-face surveys with 50 welfare staff per country to understand the scale, scope, and context of online child sexual exploitation and abuse
  • Interviews with 10 survivors of online child sexual exploitation and abuse, their parents and caregivers, and 10 justice stakeholders per country to assess access justice
  • Interviews with 33 survivors of online child sexual exploitation and abuse in Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, Namibia and South Africa. ECPAT members play a crucial role in collecting data
  • In Southeast Asia, we are partnering with: APLE Cambodia, ECPAT Indonesia, ECPAT Philippines, and ECPAT Foundation Thailand.
  • In Africa, we collaborate with EDA in Ethiopia, KAACR in Kenya, Rede Da Criança in Mozambique, Lifeline/Childline Namibia, Jelly Beanz in South Africa, C-SEMA and KIWOHEDE in Tanzania, and UYDEL in Uganda.
Assess Threat

INTERPOL

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.

Children’s Perspectives

UNICEF

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.

Learn More at End-Violence.org

RESOURCES

CONVERSATIONS WITH SURVIVORS REPORT

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

COUNTRY REPORTS 

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

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 – Snapshot        English | Portuguese

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

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

 

METHODOLOGY PAPERS FOR RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

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

 

DATA INSIGHTS SERIES

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

 

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.