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The International Watch Foundation (IWF) worked with the Ghanaian government’s National Cyber Security Center and UNICEF Ghana to operationalize the vital portal.
A new online portal is addressing the “critical” need to protect children in Ghana, as reports of child sexual abuse material in the country are increasing “rapidly”.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has launched today (October 1) a new reporting portal that offers people in Ghana a way to report child sexual abuse material should it be found online.
The IWF is the UK-based international charity responsible for finding and removing images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet.
Once informed through the new portal, IWF UK trained analysts will evaluate the images and videos.
If they are found to contain child sexual abuse, they can be blocked and removed from the Internet.
The Portal is available in two languages: French and English, and will then be available in Arabic and Spanish. It can be accessed at https://report.iwf.org.uk/gh.
The IWF worked with the Ghanaian government’s National Cyber Security Center and UNICEF Ghana to bring the vital portal up and running.
Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF Ghana Country Representative, said: “As more children access the Internet, the risk of violence, abuse and exploitation online has become an unfortunate reality.
“The number of reports related to the access, distribution or production of child sexual abuse material from Ghana has increased rapidly in recent years, from 750 in 2016 to 7,000 in 2019.
“In this context, the Government of Ghana is collaborating with the Internet Watch Foundation to establish an online reporting mechanism for child sexual abuse images.
“UNICEF welcomes this important development, which is very timely. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our children spend a lot of time online to access education, play and connect with their friends and family.
Dufay said the portal is more important now than ever.
He added: “In an increasingly digitized age, the need to ensure a safe and protective environment for children has never been more critical.”
Susie Hargreaves OBE, Executive Director of the IWF, welcomed the creation of the portal and said it will help make a real difference in online safety “around the world.”
Ms Hargreaves said: “This new online portal is absolutely vital. It allows people in Ghana to report things directly to our bright and knowledgeable analysts who will be able to evaluate them and make sure the internet is kept safe.
“This helps us to ensure that the Internet is a positive place for everyone around the world, and that criminals have nowhere to hide or share this criminal material. Ultimately it will help make children safer. That is why this work is so important ”.
This is the 43rd IWF Portal and the 20th to be established in Africa. It is the 25th Portal sponsored by the Global Fund to be launched
The IWF portals are available in 17 languages (Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Kazakh, Lingala, Bahasa Malay, Mongolian, Nepalese, Pashto, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Ukrainian, Urdu, Wolof).
