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It’s a crime! Sri Lanka lacks proper laws to fight increasing online violence against children
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
Sri Lanka is experiencing a serious spike in online violence against children and the threats will continue to rise unless laws are implemented urgently, a high-level Committee appointed by the President to study and make recommendations for the protection of children, has warned.
At present, these crimes are barely addressed. And the range of offences is alarming, experts have found. It includes cyberbullying, child sexual abuse material, sexting and sextortion, grooming, child trafficking and child labour.
High child sexual abuse material generated from Sri Lanka
A 2021 study by Save the Children identified that three out of 10 children faced some type of online violence in Sri Lanka. These were categorised as “clicking on a link to messages that showed indecent images of other people”; cyber extortion; receiving indecent text messages (the highest number of offences); cyberbullying; as well as sharing and receiving links and advertisements to indecent pictures or clip arts, videos, texts, scripts and audio clips.
Existing measures to deal with harmful content on social media sites are insufficient given the seriousness of the scope and scale of offensive content directly or indirectly targeting children which is generated in-country, the Committee has held.
The US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has a cyber tip line that gets complaints of online child sexual exploitation. It also tabulates country reports. In 2021, the tip line recorded a staggering 152,811 incidents of online child sexual exploitation and abuse content hosted from Sri Lanka.
The Committee has pointed out that this level of caseload will be impossible for Sri Lankan courts to manage. But an independent commission could address the issue through its mandate and powers, especially in demanding corrective measures from users.
“We are way behind in tackling a problem that’s growing every day,” said Buddhini Withana, Committee Member. “It’s a child protection issue that is evolving every second because of the nature of online platforms and digital media.”
Difficult decisions
As a country, Sri Lanka is already “challenged” in responding to conventional child protection issues, she said. The online space has received even less attention. The authorities that need to be involved extend beyond the traditional actors like the police, child protection or probation officers. “The industry has a huge role to play in prevention and response,” Ms. Withana said.
Other stakeholders must be invited into the discussion about online child sex material. And Sri Lanka is a long way from getting a proper mechanism running. “Difficult decisions have to be made if measures are to be implemented properly,” she pointed out. “Internet service providers will have to be regulated so they actively detect and block harmful websites. It’s not an easy thing for the industry.”
It is now urgent to plug the gaps in legislation, these experts say. Sri Lanka is one of 25 countries in the world that don’t have legislation for the prevention of and response to child sex abuse material, according to the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) which analyses such laws globally. Child sex abuse material facilitated by technology requires a far more sophisticated approach that goes beyond the provisions of the Penal Code (which can only punish offenders and cannot remove the harmful content).
No laws
There are also no laws in Sri Lanka to explicitly define child sex abuse material. The Obscene Publications Act, the Vagrants Ordinance or the Penal Code–all of which contain provisions on pornography–are not precise enough.
Even the proposed Online Safety Bill, which is challenged before the Supreme Court, did not introduce adequate measures to combat child sexual abuse material and other harmful online content for children, the Committee has pointed out. And it did not have any safeguards for children who have been victims of online violence.
Some countries have introduced laws to require the removal of illegal content quickly or to prevent it from appearing in the first place (including removal of content promoting self-harm). They prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content and enforce age limits and age-checking measures. They also ensure the risks and dangers posed to children on the largest social media platforms are more transparent and provide parents and children with clear, accessible ways to report problems online.
Challenges
The obstacles are huge, the Committee states. Apart from the overwhelming volume of such content online, offenders use encryption and anonymity tools and adapt quickly to new technologies. They are often on the dark web and tracking offenders and victims requires navigating a complex digital trail while respecting privacy and legal boundaries, the Committee points out.
The authorities lack the skills to carry out child-friendly investigations, leading to a host of other challenges. Training is needed, with a focus on child-friendly interview methods.
A major barrier is that political decision-makers and those at high levels of Government remain ignorant of the serious threats that children face.They are unaware of tech-based and innovative measures they must take. International cooperation is required as the problem has no geographical barriers, the experts assert.
The Save the Children study also found that parents faced challenges stemming from a “significant lack of awareness concerning the digital landscape”. They had a limited understanding of digital tools, were unfamiliar with evolving trends and challenges and faced difficulty recognizing risks and implementing safeguards.
Legal amendments
Apart from pushing for a regulatory mechanism, the Committee calls for legislation that accurately defines child sexual abuse material. It recommends action against anyone that produces such content for the purpose of its distribution through a computer system; offers or makes available the content through a computer system; distributes or transmits it through a computer system; procures child sexual abuse material through a computer system for oneself or another person; and possesses the content in a computer system or on a computer-data storage medium.
A range of other amendments have also been proposed.
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