Portal to call out child sexual abuse material in Kenya ‘could lead to the rescue of a young victim’

Efforts to help remove child sexual abuse reported in Kenya will be boosted as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) relaunches an important local portal.

Today (June 9th), the IWF is relaunching its reporting portal in Kenya to 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 Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the UK-based international charity responsible for finding and removing images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet, has teamed up with the Kenyan Government’s Anti-Human Trafficking & Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU), and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) for the dedicated portal.

Initially, the portal 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, Chief Executive 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.

“The children in these images and videos are real, and their suffering will stay with them for a lifetime. At least with our help, and with the help of the people of Kenya, they can rest a little easier knowing the footage of their abuse is not being circulated by predators and criminals online.”

Jeniffer Wamuyu Kanyi of the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations 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.”

The Portal is available in English at https://report.iwf.org.uk/ke

The relaunch is being supported by 13 different organisations which will include a link to the portal on their websites. These are:

1. National Police Service - Website: https://www.npsc.go.ke 

2. Kenya Police Service - Website: https://www.kenyapolice.go.ke 

3. Administration Police service - Website:https://www.nationalpolice.go.ke 

4. Kenya Prisons Service - Website: https://www.prisons.go.ke 

5. National council for children services - Website: www.childrenscouncil.go.ke 

6. National Police Service Commission - Website: https://www.npsc.go.ke 

7. Communication Authority of Kenya - Website: https://ca.go.ke 

8. Child Welfare Society of Kenya – Website: https://www.cwsk.go.ke 

9. Department of Children Services (DCS) - Website: www.socialprotection.go.ke 

10. National Council for Persons with Disability - Website: http://ncpwd.go.ke/ 

11. Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board - Website: http://ncpwd.go.ke/ 

12. National Gender and Equality commission - Website: https://www.ngeckenya.org/ 

13. The National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) - Website: https://ncaj.go.ke/ 

 The public is given this advice 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.
• Don’t 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.