The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a UK based not for profit organization that has created online portals against child sexual abuse in 27 countries. Recently the organization has announced that will be setting base in Pakistan soon.
On 3rd May, the IWF had a soft launch for their portal at the roundtable event titled Online Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan: Solutions and Call to Action held in Islamabad. The event was organized by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) in collaboration with IWF.
Furthermore, the press release by the Digital Rights Foundation reads that the portal will work with law enforcement, industry partners, DRF and its internet content analysts to identify, assess, report, seek removal and ‘hash’ criminal child sexual abuse imagery. The portal will also proactively search for child sexual abuse images and videos hosted in Pakistan and beyond.
Nighat Dad, executive director DRF speaking on the occasion said, “online child exploitation and abuse has been treated as a moral panic for a long time, however very little headway has been made by way of tangible efforts to understand and tackle this issue.”
The portal will be available on the Digital Right Foundation website in the summers.
