Legal professionals in Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Montenegro have recently completed a Training of Trainers (ToT) programme on preventing and combatting online child sexual exploitation and abuse. These activities form part of the Council of Europe’s End Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse @Europe Plus (EndOCSEA@Europe+) project.

This comprehensive legal training programme, initially developed under the first phase of the project (EndOCSEA@Europe), has been updated and adapted to the national contexts of the three focus countries in co-operation with local experts.

The programme is designed for experienced and specialised legal professionals, including judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers who are involved in protecting children and  online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA). Conceived as a ToT, it aims to ensure the sustainability and wider dissemination of knowledge by equipping participants with the expertise and authority to train peers within their institutions.  Key modules include: substantive and procedural criminal law on OCSEA; victim-focused and child-friendly investigations and prosecutions; proactive and reactive investigative techniques; victim support services and procedures; and effective interagency co-operation.

The training sessions were conducted jointly by international and national experts. In total, 141 legal professionals  benefited from the programme: 29 in Georgia, 65 in the Republic of Moldova, and 47 in Montenegro. These included 65 law enforcement officers, 37 prosecutors, 18 judges, 12 child protection agency staff, 6 government officials, 2 court-appointed forensic examiners and 1 lawyer.

The successful implementation of this legal training programme marks a significant contribution to enhancing national capacities to prevent and combat OCSEA in a sustainable and co-ordinated manner.

The training materials are available in English, with nationally adapted versions translated into Georgian, Romanian and Montenegrin for Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Montenegro respectively (available upon request).

The Council of Europe gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided for this programme by Safe Online.