Why and How To Report Child Abuse

The Role of Hotlines

The blocking of CSAI web sites is assisted by the establishment of online reporting hotlines as these allow additional sites to be discovered and added to the blocking list if appropriate. Hotlines will investigate the reports to determine if they are illegal, and if so, trace the origin of the content. Content that is found to be illegal will be referred to the local law enforcement agency. Notice and take down procedures are followed to ensure illegal material is removed by the ISP hosting it. As many of these sites reported will be hosted outside of the hotline country and may be located in countries where law enforcement is very ineffective then blocking the web site at ISP level will help to reduce access to the site and thus reduce the revenue that it receives from subscribers.

International Co-operation

Because the Internet has no borders sites can be accessed from anyone anywhere in the world. International Cooperation is needed to trace and deal with illegal content. Illegal content may not originate from the reporting country. In this case the report is forwarded to the hotline within the country of origin and if deemed illegal under the laws of that country is then referred to the local law enforcement agency.

The success of increasing Global law enforcement is increasing and is assisted by reporting hotlines. Reports lead to the identification and arrest of persons involved in child sexual abuse, the creation and possession of CSAI, and online grooming, exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

Your Report can help to eliminate illegal content, identify victims and pedophiles and lead to their arrest.

If you have found a website or activity on the Internet you suspect to be illegal, don't ignore it. Make a report to your national hotline.

Simply choose the country where you live from the list below, click on the link and fill in any details you have using the online form provided.

You can also alert the organisation nearest to you working within the Virtual Global Taskforce