The CyberSouth+ joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe organised a three-day regional training to strengthen the capacity of investigators and experts from the Southern Mediterranean region to fight against online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA).
The activity is built on the CyberSouth+ project's previous capacity building initiatives in the region, including regional and national training courses delivered in Algeria, Morocco and Egypt. These activities had highlighted varying levels of operational readiness among participating countries, particularly regarding the receipt and handling of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's (NCMEC) CyberTipline reports.
The first day of the training centred on direct exchanges between participating countries and NCMEC, alongside contributions from countries in the region related to good practices and challenges in handling the CyberTipline reports. Participants also examined tools for the effective triage and prioritisation of reports, as well as procedures for obtaining evidence from service providers, key elements in supporting victim identification, investigative action and cross-border co-operation in OCSEA cases.
The following two-day scenario-based exercise focused on teaching participants on how to progressively integrate open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques and requests to on-line service providers into their investigative approach. Through a complex investigation initiated based on a simulated CyberTipline report, participants learned how to apply international legal standards and operational tools in a OCSEA scenario.
The CyberSouth+ project remains committed to ehancing the capacities of criminal justice practitioners from the Southern Neighbourhood region to fight OCSEA, improve victim identification and reinforce regional co-operation in protecting children from online sexual exploitation.
Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
Cyberviolence against children
Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC)