Internet Age Needs Better International Policing

Why in News?

• Amid the blurring geographical boundaries, crime is generally networked today and the article put emphasis upon the need to tackle the menace of child abuse in a coordinated manner globally.

 

Fight online exploitation of children

• Tragically, the online child sexual abuse is growing exponentially and anonymously.
• Images and videos are indiscriminately available on social networking and allied websites
• Behind every image or video there is a real child victim, there is real exploitation and there is a crime.

 

Global Scenario

• Global Threat Assessment report 2021 released by WeProtect Global Alliance reported that child sexual exploitation and online abuse has reached its highest level during Covid-19 pandemic.
  • About WeProtect Global Alliance : It is a global movement of more than 200 governments, private sector companies and civil society organisations working together to transform the global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online.
• According to Internet Watch Foundation, there is a 77% increase in child ‘self-generated’ sexual material from 2019 to 2020.

 

India’s statistics

• Emerging risks: The 2011 Census shows that the country has 472 million children below the age of 18, of which 225 million are girls. Owing to growing digital penetration in India the possibility of crime against children increase manifold.
  • Out of India’s 749 million internet users, 232 million are children.
• India Child Well-Being Report 2021 is published jointly by non-profit World Vision India and think tank Poverty Learning Foundation. It ranks States on factors impacting child well-being like health, hygiene, protection and school education.
  • While Kerala bagged the first rank among all the States, Meghalaya ranked the lowest.
• In a 2017 report, “Everyone Blames Me,” Human Rights Watch found that survivors (of the crime), particularly among marginalized communities, still find it difficult to register police complaints.
• According to Interpol data, India reported over 24 lakh instances of online child sexual abuse during three year period between 2017-20 with 80 per cent of the victims being girls below the age of 14 years.

 

Challenges

• Non-traceability: Encrypted networks make the child sexual abuse offenders practically untraceable.
  • Also the use of proxies/VPNs/peer to-peer networks by perpetrators, and use of fake IDs make tractability difficult.
• Search terminology: Terms like ‘child porn’, ‘kid porn’, ‘pornography’ etc. help spread this menace.
• Vicious cycle: The continuous production and distribution of child abuse material fuels the demand for new and more egregious images, perpetuating the abuse of more children.
• Clamped network: The unfortunate revelation is that this menace has now a footprint in more than 100 jurisdictions across the globe.
• No real time data: A major handicap is the absence of real-time actionable data for investigation due to territoriality, complications in sharing data across jurisdictions.
• Non timely international coordination: Mutual legal assistance is plagued by delays.

 

Steps taken to fight online child abuse

• Social platform protocol: Social media platforms are developing protocols for proactive detection and blocking of such content.
• Coordinated response: CBI has conducted large pan-India operations in recent years like Operation Carbon in 2021 and Operation Megh Chakra in 2022.
• About Operation Megh Chakra: Under this operation, CBI raids 59 locations across 21 states in operation against online child sex abuse material (CSAM).
  • The operation was targeted at cloud storage used by peddlers to circulate audio-visual material on illicit sexual activities with minors.
  • Raids came after the agency registered two cases under relevant provisions of the IT Act, based on inputs from the Crime Against Children (CAC) unit of the Interpol, based in Singapore, which had received it from New Zealand police.
• Operation Carbon: As part of that, raids were conducted at 76 locations across the country against 83 persons. Several people were arrested.
• UNICEF’s Draft Policy Guidance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Children: It is designed to promote children’s rights in government and private sector AI (artificial intelligence) policies and practices, and to raise awareness of how AI systems can uphold or undermine these rights.
• UN International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Guidelines on Child Online Protection: It is a comprehensive set of recommendations for children, parents and educators, industry and policymakers on how to contribute to the development of a safe and empowering online environment for children and young people.

 

Legislation in India

• Online child sexual abuse is criminalised through the IT Act and POCSO Act.
• IT Act,2000: Section 67B of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 specifically provides stringent punishment for publishing, browsing or transmitting child pornography in electronic form.
• POCSO Act: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012 was established to protect the children against offences like sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and pornography.
  • It provides a robust legal framework by including mechanisms for child-friendly reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated special courts.
  • The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights monitors the status of POCSO implementation.
• Recent POCSO Amendment: It provides for stringent punishment, including the death penalty, for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault crime on a child, both boys and girls, below the age of 18.
  • It also proposed to protect children from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters.
• Online Complaint Management System: The National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has established an online complaint management system that enables a confidential platform for victims (or their representatives) to report cases of child abuse and sexual assault.

 

It’s a multidimensional fight

• Facets to confront: The fight to save our children from online child sexual abuse includes criminalisation of the offences, prevention, proactive detection, criminal investigation, curbing propagation, identification/restitution of victims and prosecution of offenders.
• Hunt down offenders: If offenders can seamlessly join hands in a heinous crime across more than 100 jurisdictions, the law enforcement also needs to put forward a credible and coordinated response.
• Awareness generation: Any child having access to the internet must be educated on what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour online.
  • We have to diligently educate our children about the many deviant and dangerous situations they may encounter online.

 

Need for global Synergy

• The forthcoming Interpol general assembly in New Delhi (October 18-21) should have laser-like focus on fighting online child abuse, making it a topmost priority.
• Targeted scrutiny: Other than getting content blocked and sharing information, investigation into criminal offences is also a high priority. CBI has set up a dedicated cell to collect, collate, investigate and disseminate information regarding online child sexual abuse content.
  • In line with the commitment to fight this menace, CBI has joined the International Child Sexual Exploitation database maintained by Interpol for support on child sexual abuse material.
  • This database holds more than 27 lakh images and has helped identify more than 23,000 victims.
  • As per Interpol secretary general this database identifies seven victims, on an average, on daily basis.

 

Conclusion

• Policymakers and law enforcement agencies need to find solutions rather than get bogged down by territorial considerations, legal asymmetries and complex procedures. As a responsible global community, we should sink all our differences and set up a truly enormous global offensive against this menace.

 

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Source: Internet Age Needs Better International Policing