Prevention

Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) carries out work that aims to prevent child sexual exploitation from occurring in the first instance or to ensure no further offending takes place. The initiatives listed below are some examples of prevention work DIA has undertaken or supported.

Europol’s Peer2Peer initiative

As part of Europol’s Peer2Peer initiative, a webpage that has links to available offline and online resources in countries around the world for those that have a problematic sexual interest in children. DIA worked with partners Safe to Talk, Wellstop, NZ Police, STOP and the Ministry of Social Development to develop an NZ based help-page hosted on Safe to Talk which provides information on local support services for individuals with harmful sexual behaviours.

Network4Learning Block Page Trial

In 2021, DIA, the Ministry of Education, Network 4 Learning and Te Mana Whakaatu Classification Office developed a trial to test block page designs’ effectiveness in providing young people in secondary schools with information, tools and resources for accessing pornography online, having healthy relationships and where to get help and support for online harms.

As part of the trial three new block page designs were to ‘nudge’ young people who attempted to search for adult pornography over the school network to alternative education, advice and support services. The new block page designs helped young people to access online safety education and information by directing them to either The Eggplant mini-series or the Keep It Real Online website. Find an overview of the trial here.

Digital Child Exploitation Filtering block page refresh

The Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System (DCEFS) is a voluntary website filtering system used by Internet Service Providers to prevent web users from accessing websites known to host child sexual abuse material. When users attempt to access such websites, they are instead referred to the filter’s block page. The page was refreshed in 2021 to include links to local counselling and support services that specialise in helping people with concerning sexual thoughts or behaviours (i.e. viewing child sexual abuse material).

11 Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

The 11 Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse provide a common and consistent voluntary framework to guide the digital industry in its efforts to help combat online child exploitation. The framework’s 11 principles help to prevent online platforms from being used to facilitate child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The principles were co-designed with industry leaders and a working group of officials from New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada to cover the following areas:

• Preventing child sexual abuse material
• Targeting online grooming and preparatory behaviour
• Targeting live-streaming
• Preventing searches from surfacing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• Adopting a specialised approach for children
• Considering victim-led mechanisms
• Collaborating and responding to evolving threats

For a full overview of the 11 voluntary principles, see here.