Explained: Interpol’s ICSE initiative on child sex abuse, now joined by the CBI

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: Interpol’s ICSE initiative on child sex abuse, now joined by the CBI” published in Indian Express on 11th July 2022.

What is the News?

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has joined Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) Initiative.

What is the International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) Initiative? 

Launched by: Interpol

Purpose: It is an intelligence and investigative tool which will allow it to collaborate with investigators in other countries for detecting child sexual abuse online and identifying abusers, victims, and crime scenes from audiovisual clips using specialised software.

Significance: The database avoids duplication of effort and saves precious time by letting investigators know whether a series of images have already been discovered or identified in another country or whether it has similar features to other images.

What has India done to combat child sex abuse?

India reported over 24 lakh instances of online child sexual abuse from 2017 to 2020, with 80% of victims being girls below the age of 14 years.

More than 60% of unidentified victims were prepubescent, including infants and toddlers. Around 65% of unidentified victims were girls, but severe abuse images were more likely to have boys.

In 2019, the CBI set up a special unit called the ‘Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/Investigation (OCSAE)’ for tracking and monitoring posting, circulation and downloads of CSEM online.