Online protection of children from sexual abuse and exploitation in East Africa

By: Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TDH-NL) Priority Areas: “human trafficking and criminal exploitation of children” & “technology as an instrument for good and bad” Objective: The 'Sweetie' research carried out by... [ view full abstract ]

By: Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TDH-NL)

Priority Areas: “human trafficking and criminal exploitation of children” & “technology as an instrument for good and bad”

Objective: The 'Sweetie' research carried out by TdH-NL in 2013, showed the extent and nature of on-line sexual exploitation of children worldwide. As a result of the expansion in ICT in Africa, more and more children are exposed to on-line threats. Offenders easily access vulnerable children on-line which has resulted to a quick rise of on-line sexual exploitation children. Due a dearth of research on child on-line exploitation, TdH-NL has commissioned a research on ‘The growth of ICT and its impact on children's protection in East Africa’.

TdH-NL’s objective in the conference will be to share our findings of this research on:

The extent of access of children to new technologies in East Africa;
-Link between ICT and sexual exploitation;
-The statutory and policy measures in place on on-line child safety and their effectiveness (or lack of it) in protecting children;
-Levels of awareness of children and caregivers on on-line threats to children and family/community based measures employed to ensure children's on-line safety;
-Knowledge and skills of child protection duty bearers on on-line threats and child on-line safety and their challenges in protecting children from on-line exploitation.

These research findings will be complemented by case-studies from the field that demonstrate links between ICT and child exploitation.

Method: Power point presentation of results of the research and discussions to come to common understanding and joint recommendations for the East African Region.

Results: Presentation will trigger discussions on on-line child safety in developing countries.

Conclusions: On-line exploitation of children is a pertinent topic of discussion in this era of ICT explosion in the developing countries.