NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya has become the first African country to connect to INTERPOL’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database, bringing the total number of connected countries to 60.
ICSE is a powerful victim identification tool, which helps specialized investigators analyse and compare child sexual abuse images. So far, it has led to the identification of 19,481 victims of child sexual abuse worldwide.
Last month, officers from INTERPOL’s Crimes Against Children unit worked with the Kenyan Police Service’s Child Online Cyber Centre on an operation targeting online child sexual exploitation in the greater Nairobi area. Three suspected abusers were identified, and one child was removed from harm. A number of further investigations are ongoing.
Images and videos from the operation were immediately recorded into the ICSE database, providing officers with meaningful material for a training session benefitting specialized officers from the Online Cyber Centre.
The connection to ICSE is a vital step in being able to correspond with other countries on global cases. Since connecting, Kenya has been an active user of the database, and has already provided expertise on African languages heard in videos submitted by other agencies, proving Kenya’s dedication to protecting children from harm both within its borders and abroad.
