By Rhiannon-Faye McDonald, member of the Brave Movement’s SAGE (Survivor Advocates Globally Empowered – advisory board) and the Head of Advocacy at the Marie Collins Foundation.

I am a survivor of technology-assisted child sexual abuse. When I was 13 years old, I was groomed online by a much older man who was pretending to be someone else. He gave me lots of compliments so I would send photos of myself to him, and ultimately was able to manipulate me into sending intimate photos which were then used to blackmail me. He came to my house the following morning and continued the sexual abuse in person. The photos were used to silence me.

For a long time following my abuse, I felt very alone. I knew that countless other victims and survivors were out there, but I didn’t know any of them. I was never put in contact with others with similar experiences to me,  so I never experienced the kind of peer support that I now know is invaluable in the recovery journey. I joined the Brave Movement because it is such a positive step forward in connecting those with lived experience and showing that we are not alone and not powerless.

By bringing together so many lived experience advocates, our collective voices can bring about true change and have a real impact on the fight against child sexual abuse.

No child should ever have to experience what I went through. No victim or survivor should have to experience the complete lack of support that I did. We have a responsibility to do better, to ensure that every child is safe, and every victim and survivor receives the appropriate support along their recovery journey.

We have had thirty years to address this, and yet the self-regulation of tech companies has failed miserably in protecting children. The number of children harmed by technology-assisted child sexual abuse is ever-increasing. We see victims and survivors being continually re-traumatised by the ongoing circulation of the images and videos of their sexual abuse. We are now witnessing tech companies intentionally making decisions which make their services less safe for children, and more private and secure for child sex abusers.

We cannot stand for this any longer.

Tech companies have a duty to ensure their platforms are safe and are not used as a tool for child sex abusers to groom and abuse children. Many platforms are still failing to protect children adequately. They need to take urgent action to address this and end child sexual abuse in their services.

Launching today, the Dirty Dozen List is crucial in calling out the mainstream tech companies who are facilitating, enabling, and even profiting from sexual abuse and exploitation. The List, created annually by the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation, looks at 12 leading tech platforms and the problematic policies and practices on each with a corresponding call to action for urgent change. By providing us with the evidence, it is easy to see which tech platforms are not doing enough and the urgent action that is needed, along with providing easy ways to engage with the issue.

By calling out tech companies in this way, it makes clear that we will no longer accept children being put at risk. And it has been working, along with other initiatives and campaigns in this space. since the list was created in 2013, there have been many victories where tech companies have addressed their failings as a result of being named and shamed. For example, both Instagram and TikTok no longer allow adult strangers to send unsolicited direct messages to children, and Snapchat removed the Snapcash feature which enabled the monetization of child sexual abuse. But there is still more to do.

Technology-assisted child sexual abuse has no borders. It is a global issue, requiring a coordinated and cohesive global response. We need governments and policymakers to truly understand this issue and the significant harm caused, and fight passionately to eradicate it. This includes strong legislation holding tech companies to account and ensuring that the safety of children is prioritised over profit. It includes resources for law enforcement, social services, health, education and parents to strengthen the safeguarding circle around children and ensure that the response to those harmed online does no further harm. It also includes engaging with those of us who have lived experience of this horrendous issue – our voices should inspire change, inform decisions, and be the golden thread running through the global response.

Join the Brave Movement today in calling for tech companies to take urgent action, and support the launch of the #DirtyDozenList with us!

This investment will support Brave’s Africa regional platform’s advocacy campaigns to end childhood sexual violence across the continent.

Washington, D.C., February 21, 2024 – The Brave Movement, a survivor-centered global movement campaigning to end to sexual violence against children, has received a 230,000 USD grant from UBS Optimus Foundation to expand its Brave regional platform’s work towards ending sexual violence against children in the continent.

Brave Africa is a regionally coordinated platform catalyzing advocacy campaigns to end childhood sexual violence across Africa. This grant will support the Brave Movement plans to engage with the African Union to advocate for policy and legal reforms across the continent that focus on prevention, healing and justice and are led by survivors of childhood sexual violence.

“We are grateful for UBS Optimus Foundations’ belief in our mission and support for the Brave Movement’s work in Africa”, said Dr. Daniela Ligiero, President of Together for Girls and Founder of the Brave Movement. “This support will be instrumental in our work with brave survivors in Africa to advocate for measures that address childhood sexual violence across the continent.”

“Every child deserves a safe childhood. Brave’s work to amplify voices against childhood sexual abuse is critical to achieve prevention, healing and justice for survivors”, said Kanga Rasi, Africa Campaign Manager at the Brave Movement. “We are at the forefront of change, and this grant will be a catalyst for further progress in our work to demand bold and transformative action from world leaders to put an end to childhood sexual violence.”

Sarah Veilex, Child Protection Program Director at UBS Optimus Foundation said: “We invest in evidence-based, scalable solutions that keep children safe. That’s why we are delighted to support the Brave Movement in Africa as this will enable them to increase their support for survivor organizations and amplify advocacy programs to improve child safety online and end sexual violence against children across Africa.”

With the support from UBS Optimus Foundation, Brave Africa will continue to demand action from policymakers and technology companies to ensure that children are secure, protected and free from all forms of sexual violence online. Brave Africa is reigniting action on the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, also known as the Malabo Convention, which came into force in 2023. Brave Africa will push for member states to sign and ratify this convention and expand the scope of online offences to include online grooming, sextortion, online trafficking, livestream sexual abuse and all other forms of online offences.

This support from UBS Optimus Foundation will enable Brave Africa to continue mobilizing survivor-led organizations across the continent, call on leaders and technology companies to ensure children’s safety online and strengthen its advocacy campaigns to end childhood sexual violence across Africa.

About Together for Girls
Together for Girls is a global partnership working to end sexual violence against children and adolescents. Active in over 20 countries, Together for Girls unites actors that often do not work together, including national governments, United Nations entities, the private sector, civil society, and survivors. Through data and advocacy, Together for Girls drives action to break cycles of violence and ensure prevention, healing, and justice.

About the Brave Movement
Hosted by Together for Girls, the Brave Movement is a survivor-led global movement campaigning to end childhood sexual violence. It is led by 14 powerful survivors and allied partners. It is demanding bold and transformative action to mobilize billions for programs focused on prevention, healing and justice worldwide, abolish statutes of limitation in every nation, and create a safer internet for children.

About UBS Optimus Foundation
The UBS Optimus Foundation is an independent grant-making foundation that offers UBS clients a platform to use their wealth to drive positive social and environmental change. The Foundation selects programs that improve children’s health, education and welfare, ones that have the potential to be transformative, scalable and sustainable as well as programs tackling environmental and climate issues.

MEDIA CONTACT
Marek Pruszewicz – marek@togetherforgirls.org

On January 31st 2024 the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis”. For millions of children and adolescents, and parents and caregivers, in the United States and around the world, the rapid rise in online sexual abuse and exploitation is a crisis, a hidden pandemic.  The CEOs of Meta, Discord, TikTok, Snapchat and X (formerly Twitter) were called on to testify and answer questions regarding  their companies’ lack of action to protect children on their platforms. Senators convened the hearing to build support for a suite of bills intended to expand protections for children online, including a measure that would allow victims of child sexual abuse to sue platforms that enable exploitation. The CEO’s were met with an overflowing room of parents holding pictures of children who have been victims to abuse and exploitations on their platforms.

It is estimated that one in six people are victims of online child sexual abuse before the age of 18 years old. This is an area of childhood sexual violence which has been rising at an alarmingly exponential rate over the last few years. In fact, reports of child sexual abuse material on online platforms grew from 32 million in 2022 to a record high of more than 36 million in 2023. These numbers do not even portray the true scale with a lack of reporting and identification resulting in numbers widely regarded to be millions less than the reality.

Survivors of childhood and adolescent sexual violence were in attendance at the hearing, to raise awareness of the scale and impact of the issue, share their perspectives and call for the leaders of these technology giants to prioritize child protection. As noted by a survivor leader, Tom Krumins, who was representing the Brave Movement at the hearing: “It is critical that survivors have a voice and a say in this conversation. True youth protection depends on the survivor perspective. Those of us who slipped through the gaps must be able to highlight our experiences and help inform the necessary changes so sexual violence does not continue to happen to millions of children and adolescents.”

The Brave Movement, a special initiative of Together for Girls, is a survivor-led advocacy movement working to end childhood sexual violence.  An integral part of our mission involves supporting survivor leaders advocating to end child sexual exploitation and abuse online and holding tech companies accountable. The Brave Movement is also part of The End Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children (OSEAC) Coalition who convened survivors from across the country to inform the questions for the CEOs, attend the hearing, and run an online day of action for online safety on day after the hearing.

There is an increasing belief that the technology is available to protect children on these platforms and that the problem lies with leaders choosing not to take necessary actions. Mr. Zuckerberg (Meta), Ms. Yaccarino (X), Mr. Chew (TikTok), Mr. Spiegel (Snapchat), and Mr. Citron (Discord) were questioned about their respective companies’ efforts, and stances on a suite of bills that have been developed to protect children. The well rehearsed CEO’s did little to show they are posed to take action at the level needed to address the crisis. Time after time all the CEO’s refused to say they would support bills that have been developed by the committee, while at the same time using their opening statements to note the importance of legislation to end online sexual exploitation.

The ‘all talk and no action’ theme was called out at one point by an understandably emotive, and visibly frustrated, Senator Lindsey Graham who noted “This senate is done with talking. We have passed five bills…if we wait for all of you to act we will die trying!”

There were some exceptions, and notes of progress, notably X publicly noting they will support the STOP CSAM ACT, the first of the technology giants to do so. On the product safety side all the CEO’s noted measures they are taking, and investments they are making, and a commitment to continued dialogue on legislation. But the solutions offered up were at a micro level, whereas the crisis it at a macro, endemic level.

The committee spoke to the safety of users and how no other products impact the safety of those using it, without mass scale action. Such as a fleet of airplanes being grounded if a glitch is found in just one of thousands of that type of airplane. Where is the similar scale action for online safety? Nowhere to be seen.

Senators noted that legislation is behind and has not developed at the rate and scale that technology has over the last twenty years. This time lag between the products, platforms and the regulations and policies needed is clear, and the continued political leadership shown at the hearing will be essential for any significant change. But unfortunately, upsettingly, and heartbreakingly for the parents and survivors in the room there was no hint that the scale of action that is needed to make the internet safe for children, and prevent online sexual exploitation and abuse, is going to be shown by the technology giant leaders any time soon.

As Tom Krumins from the Brave Movement noted “The time is now for these leaders to be bold, to be brave! What we saw today was simply not enough. At the Brave Movement, we will continue to call on technology companies to take urgent steps to prioritize child safety on their platforms, and we will continue to call on the government to play their part in regulating and holding these companies to account.”

allAfrica.com

Kigali, Rwanda — In the fight against sexual violence against children in Africa, one name stands out: Kanga Rasi.

Driven by her own experiences as a survivor of childhood sexual violence, Kanga is an inspiring leader who is leading the charge to end violence against children throughout the continent.

“I am a survivor of childhood sexual violence at 10. My lived experience motivated me to do this. This for me, it’s not work. For me, it’s that I wouldn’t wish another child, whether a girl or boy to experience what I did, because I know the impact of it, whether psychologically, whether health-wise, whether how you show up in society, how it affects also you as an individual,” she said.

Kanga is a beacon of hope for others who have been through similar experiences.

Her vision extends beyond her own personal healing, as she recognizes the urgent need for a society that safeguards the innocence and well-being of children. She is a tireless advocate for prevention, awareness, and support systems for survivors. She is determined to create a world where no child has to experience violence, and she is working tirelessly to make that vision a reality. Over the past nine years, she has worked with a variety of organizations at the international, regional, national, and grassroots levels to address issues such as gender-based violence, reproductive rights, education, and women in leadership.

Kanga said that “if we want children to reach their full potential, we need to break down the barriers that stand in their way. Some of these barriers are systemic, but we can still make a difference by speaking out about our lived experiences and working to change the systems that perpetuate child abuse and neglect. By working together, we can ensure that all children have the opportunity to live their best lives”.

“Inculcating school-based gender-based violence (SRGBV) in our curriculums is important,” she said. “This should start with teacher training programs so that teachers understand what GBV is and how to talk to students about it. Once GBV is included in the curriculum, teachers should be aware of how to relay the information to students in a way that is both informative and sensitive. Additionally, students should be given opportunities to participate in crafting solutions to GBV, as their lived experiences are essential to developing effective prevention and response strategies.”

Gender-Based Violence in Schools – A Silent Epidemic

Schools are meant to be safe places for children to learn and grow. Yet, a chilling reality has shattered this ideal, plunging schools into the depths of a global crisis. Violence, once deemed unthinkable within these sacred spaces, has emerged as a relentless force, gripping the hearts of 246 million learners worldwide, reports UNESCO.

Violence can take many forms, including sexual harassment, physical assault, bullying, discrimination, verbal abuse, and harmful gender norms.

Africa, like many regions across the globe, faces significant challenges in addressing school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). It is estimated that one in three girls in sub-Saharan Africa will experience some form of SRGBV during her school years, according to UNESCO. Alarming statistics show that between 46% and 78% of adolescent girls in African schools have experienced some form of SRGBV. This can have a devastating impact on girls’ education, mental health, and overall well-being and perpetuate a cycle of gender inequality. As a result, many girls are forced to avoid school, perform below their potential, or even drop out altogether. This violence has a significant negative impact on the educational achievements of female students.

SRGBV encompasses various forms, including sexual harassment, assault, bullying, discrimination, and harmful gender norms.

The consequences of SRGBV are far-reaching.

However, the Brave Movement is emerging as a global force. The organization aims to end all forms of sexual violence against children. It operates on the belief that survivors should be at the forefront of the fight against sexual violence, and their voices and experiences should guide the movement’s actions.  The Brave Movement, launched in April 2022, has experienced significant growth. The movement has members from around the world, with particularly rapid growth in Africa and Europe.

The Brave Movement’s advocacy is focused on these three pillars: prevention, healing, and justice. The movement believes that by working together, these partners can make a real difference in the lives of children who have been affected by violence.

Anna Macdonald, the Executive Director of Brave Movement, says that the Brave Movement is a survivor-led activist movement that works to end childhood sexual violence in Africa. The organization is committed to removing the stigma associated with survivors of childhood violence and creating a world where all children can grow up safe and free from fear. Brave Movement operates on a continent-wide level, with a substantial membership base in countries like Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa. The organization is actively engaged in Pan-African objectives, including joint campaigns and support for national-led initiatives.

The Brave Movement is a powerful example of how survivors of childhood sexual violence can use their voices to create positive change.

“One of its key principles is to amplify the voices of survivors, ensuring that they are able to present their perspectives and be heard by decision-makers when discussing policy solutions,” Macdonald said. “The organization firmly believes that individuals who have experienced the trauma of childhood sexual violence are well-positioned to advocate for effective measures to prevent such trauma for future generations.”

“Brave Movement advocates for Survivor councils to provide advice to governments and to include survivors in all policy dialogues. This involvement extends to sectors such as education, sports, and religion, where Brave Movement works to enhance safety and address issues related to childhood violence,” said Macdonald.   “The majority of our leadership team are survivors. Our 15-member leadership group is made up of survivors from 12 different countries. They advise and develop our organization’s policies and aspirations, and they are our spokespeople. For example, Kanga Rasi, our Africa campaign manager, is a survivor and an accomplished activist.”

Successful initiatives

The United Nations declared November 18 as the World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Violence. The day is intended to spotlight the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and to stress the need for prevention, for perpetrators to be brought to justice, and for victims to be given a voice as part of the long process of healing.

“This is a key success, as many African countries took part in campaigns last year to speak out against childhood violence,” said Kanga. “The UN Declaration has set aside this time to raise awareness of the issue and to promote best practices for preventing violence against children.”

“In Kenya, some partners have been instrumental in influencing the Children’s Act to incorporate provisions that protect children from violence. The Act currently addresses the evolving nature of child violence, including online safety. For example, there have been cases of live-streamed violence against children and online grooming,” she added. “Kenya has been successful in preventing these atrocities because of the Children’s Act and the work of its partners. However, there is still more work to be done. The different countries and partners involved in the Era Two Week are coming together to share best practices and to develop new strategies for preventing childhood violence.”

The purpose of the Era Two Week, as declared by the United Nations, is to bring attention to and address the issue of child sexual exploitation, abuse, and violence.

Macdonald also added that in 2023, “The Brave movement successfully campaigned with the G7 countries to secure a commitment from their ministers to fund and resource the ending of childhood violence.”

“This was a significant achievement because the impact of childhood violence costs the world billions of dollars in terms of the trauma that a child may grow up into an adult with unresolved trauma and the many problems that can cause in society. She said that getting an actual commitment from some of the most well-resourced countries in the world to invest in preventing child violence was a first step towards a successful campaign to make this a worldwide initiative.”

Future goals

Kanga said, “First and foremost, I believe that all African countries should ratify the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. This is an important charter that protects the rights of all children, especially in Africa. In addition, we need to address the issue of intrafamilial sexual violence, which is a major problem in Africa. This includes incest, whether it is committed by a father, uncle, or aunt. We need to look at how things have been done in the past and find ways to change them so that children are protected from this type of violence.”

“Online safety and sexual violence are major concerns for children today. There are a number of things that can be done to prevent these issues, including strong policies and implementation, education, and support. Funding is essential for preventing these issues, and the current reality for many children is that they do not feel safe online or in school. We need to create a world where children feel safe and protected, and this is possible if we invest in prevention and support.”

Elevating the voices of survivors

At the Women Deliver conference, Macdonald’s message to women is that childhood sexual violence is a feminist issue and a gender issue that is intersectional with many other issues, such as inequality, marginalization, and education. She is calling on women to recognize that childhood sexual violence is a serious issue that affects them disproportionately. She is also urging them to demand that safeguarding measures be put in place to protect children from violence. She highlights the fact that girls and women are disproportionately affected by violence, both as children and as adults, and that childhood sexual violence is not possible to address without also addressing these other issues. She calls for safeguarding measures to be put in place to protect children from violence, including measures such as providing safe and inclusive environments and making it easy for people to report concerns.

Kanga encourages Women Deliver to incorporate the lived experiences of survivors into their advocacy efforts to end childhood violence. She believes that survivors’ lived experiences are essential to advocacy because they cannot be taken away and can inform policy and interventions in ways that data and research cannot. Survivors can share their stories to raise awareness of the issue and build support for change, and they can provide insights into the challenges of healing from childhood violence, which can help to develop more effective interventions.