Definition
- Companies (national and international) ensure child safety issues are paramount in the development and delivery of products and services, giving particular attention to putting systems in place to prevent violations of children’s safety – including sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Child safety considerations are integrated into appropriate corporate policies, procedures and processes to ensure that companies take adequate measures to identify, prevent and mitigate against CSEA.
Why is it needed?
- Technology companies can help prevent the spread of online CSEA which, in turn, can help to reduce the number of victims.
- Technology companies can help identify online CSEA, which can increase the number of victims safeguarded and protected and offenders located and apprehended.
- Where national legislation is not yet at international standards, companies still have an opportunity and social responsibility to bring on a voluntary basis their business practices in line with those standards.
- Other industry sectors such as the travel and tourism industry can assist in the identification of CSEA which can, in turn, help to increase the number of victims safeguarded and protected and offenders located.
Good practice
- Companies whose services enable content to be shared and/or users to interact have in place a reporting mechanism to provide customers and the public with the ability to report potential incidences of CSEA. This should be promoted in prominent online and offline spaces.
- A specific individual/team is designated with responsibility for processing CSEA reports and the company invests in raising the profile of these crimes across the company.
- A child protection/safeguarding policy is in place that enables the integration of specific child safety risks – including sexual abuse and exploitation – into company-wide policy.
- Terms of use and codes of conduct are established that explicitly forbid customers to use company services/platform for the purposes of CSEA or the production, distribution or viewing of child sexual abuse material.
- Where relevant, a company puts in place robust processes for the decommissioning or takedown of online child sexual abuse material.
- Relevant technical measures are provided to users such as parental control tools, block/allow lists, and content filtering.
- Age-appropriate and relevant educational and awareness-raising information is developed to enable child users and their parents to make informed decisions as empowered and responsible digital citizens about their online interactions. Companies have a role to play in helping to develop, promote and disseminate responsible messages which will also act as a deterrent to offenders.
- Companies might also provide capacity building support to countries and other companies. To maximise its effectiveness, the provision of this support could be coordinated with other organisations already offering support and/or through the Global Partnership and its associated Fund to End Violence Against Children that supports capacity building programmes across the world.