The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has relaunched its reporting portal in Kenya. The portal will allow even more people to safely and anonymously report images and videos of child sexual abuse should they stumble across them on the internet.
The IWF is a UK-based international charity responsible for finding and removing images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet. The organization has teamed up with the Kenyan Government’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU), and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) for the dedicated portal.
The portal was initially launched in January, but only for law enforcement in Kenya to report suspected images and videos of child sexual abuse on the internet.
The re-launched portal will now give members of the public in Kenya a place to report illegal material. Once reported through the new portal, images and videos will be assessed by trained IWF analysts in the UK. If they are found to contain child sexual abuse, they can be blocked and removed from the internet.
Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the IWF, said, “We are so pleased to be able to open this portal up to the public and to allow members of the public in Kenya to help us in our mission to make the internet a safer place all over the world. With new technology, the frontline of the internet is in everyone’s homes and on their phones. Now, people in Kenya will be able to call out illegal images of child sexual abuse online, helping our world-class analysts tackle the problem wherever it occurs.”
Jeniffer Wamuyu Kanyi of the Kenyan DCI said, “DCI is committed to ensuring that children are safe in both the physical and virtual environments. “We know that seeing images and videos of child sexual abuse can be upsetting. We want you to know that by reporting to us you are doing the right thing. Your report could lead to the rescue of a young victim from further abuse,” she added.
The relaunch is being supported by 13 different organizations which will include a link to the portal on their websites. These are listed below.
Interested applicants have been advised to do the following when making a report.
- Do report images and videos of child sexual abuse to the IWF to be removed. Reports to the IWF are anonymous.
- Do provide the exact URL where child sexual abuse images are located.
- Do not report other harmful content. You can find details of other agencies to report to on the IWF’s website.
- Do report to the police if you are concerned about a child’s welfare,
- Do report only once for each web address or URL. Repeat reporting of the same URL isn’t needed and wastes analysts’ time.
- Do report non-photographic visual depictions of the sexual abuse of children, such as computer-generated images. Anything of this nature, which is also hosted in the UK, the IWF can get removed.