Combating online child exploitation
Joint efforts in combating online child exploitation are being strengthened through a three day workshop facilitated by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations(HSI).
The training sponsored by the U.S U.S. Embassy Suva is an outcome of discussions held in May this year between the Fiji Police Force and Assistant Attaché of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Luke Holloway and Diplomatic Security Service Overseas Criminal Investigations Special Agent Jeremy Clark.
The Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew thanked the support of the United States Government in convening the important training, also at a time where Pacific Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police have shown their commitment in working together to counter online child exploitation in the region.
“The Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police held its annual conference in Australia less than a month ago where the theme was Cybercrime; Countering Exploitation, where we heard from experts and discussed how to collectively work together to combat child exploitation and to protect our children, our future leaders”.
“It brought closer to home the real need to expedite collaborative efforts in the cyber-crime space whether it be developing investigative capabilities, sharing of intelligence and information or preventative strategies all with the shared intent of combating online child exploitation”.
The three day training will be led by experts from NCMEC and HSI, and will be focused on developing NCMEC’s CyberTipline Reports into actionable cases.
CyberTipline is a Office of Justice Programs created in order for children and their parents to quickly and easily report suspected incidents of child sexual exploitation that occur on the Internet, including activities involving the possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography, online enticement of children for sexual purposes, child prostitution, child sex tourism, child sexual molestation, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child.
The Acting Commissioner of Police said there is collective will at the national and regional level in tackling all forms of gender based violence and safeguarding children.
“Regionally we have the PICP Gender and Family Harm Program working towards similar proactive measures to address crimes against children and last week a Safe and Equal Online Spaces Symposium was held in Suva, facilitated by Pacific Women and Girls, bringing together experts from the region to discuss ways of addressing technology facilitated gender based violence in Fiji and the region".
"Understanding the sense of urgency, we have selected senior investigators, prosecuting officers, and senior supervisors in the field of cyber investigations from the five policing divisions”.
At the end of the three day extensive program, participants will be able to tackle more complex investigations.
