Searching for ways to prevent online child abuse

OPINION: How do we tackle online child sexual abuse while still giving young people access to the internet? It's a thorny problem, but some thought is starting to sort fact from the emotion that has accompanied this debate.

There are an estimated 16,700 websites globally that depict child abuse images. The age of child subjects is falling, and images are becoming more graphic and violent. Closer to home, we're not immune - recently, the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand unit said more than 1000 people have been prosecuted in this country since 1996.

The development of the online environment has not created crimes involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, but it has increased the scale and reach for potentially causing harm, explains a new research paper, Child Safety Online: Global Challenges and Strategies. The new report, from the United Nations Children's Fund's Innocenti Research Centre, examines the risks and how children can be protected.

With the dangers also come benefits for children in education, socialisation and entertainment. To children, the online world is a magical place of communication, friends and exploration that enables them to push boundaries and take control of their lives. According to research by AVG Technologies, 64 per cent of Kiwi kids have similar online habits to mature adults by the age of 11.

This means opportunity, but also brings dangers such as online grooming and cyberbullying. Research by NetSafe indicates that a third of our teenagers have experienced the latter.

Generation gaps are nothing new, but what makes the internet different is the spectacular pace at which it evolves. Not only do most of us have access to the internet at home (recent figures from The World Internet Project's New Zealand report put it at 86 per cent of households) but children are now switching to smartphones, giving them more freedom and their parents even less control.

Offenders are also taking advantage of rapidly enlarging web access that is supported by increasing broadband and mobile phone penetration.

In New Zealand, recent government figures show that almost half the population has a dedicated subscription via a mobile phone or has used a mobile phone to access the internet. The emergence of broadband is a decisive factor in facilitating online child abuse, because it allows the exchange of larger image files.

This has opened a new gateway for offenders in developing countries, where the internet is growing so fast that it is hard to keep pace with how young people are using it, let alone fathom the underlying dangers.

From New Zealand to Nepal, what are the solutions? A primary goal is the empowerment of children, recognising that most are more familiar with technology than their parents, and are more likely to turn to their peers when they encounter problems online.

Secondly, removing impunity for abusers requires a level of international co-ordination in legislation and enforcement that has yet to materialise in most countries. According to the British-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, governments need to harmonise legislation, since any significant internet investigation is likely to cross international boundaries. Of the 196 countries reviewed, only 45 have legislation sufficient to combat child abuse image offences.

Thirdly, the issue of removing access to child sexual abuse images is something that requires the co-operation of internet service providers, along with child-friendly filtering and blocking mechanisms. In New Zealand, we have the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System, operated by the Government in partnership with ISPs.

Lastly, there is the need to support the recovery of child victims of online abuse - not easy when most abuse goes unreported.

For the full report, go to www.unicef.org.nz, and for resources on digital parenting go to www.netsafe.org.nz. Dennis McKinlay is executive director of Unicef New Zealand.

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