The increasing use by children of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has created new opportunities for sexual offenders to target and harm children.
As a continuation of the support to the authorities of Mauritius in fighting online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) through capacity building exercises, a 5-days training on the use of the technology, provided by the Child Rescue Coalition to law enforcement agencies, was organized in Mauritius by the Attorney General Office in co-operation with the Council of Europe and the EU Delegation. 22 representatives of the Police Force directly involved in tracking, investigating and prosecuting OCSEA offences attended the event. A half-day session was also organised for representatives of the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The opening session was delivered by Mr. Rajeshsharma Ramloll, Solicitor General of Mauritius, Mrs. Florence Van Houte, Team Leader, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Mauritius and to the Republic of Seychelles, Mr. Rajkumar Baungally, Assistant Solicitor General of Mauritius and DPS Yaneize Aukauloo, member of the Cybercrime Unit of the Police Force of Mauritius. Mr Hon Maneesh Gobin, the Attorney General of Mauritius, addressed the audience with the concluding remarks.
The training focussed on offering law enforcement officers the requisite skills to operate the Child Protection System tool. The training focused on case studies and the practical use of this tool for generating evidential downloads, as well as managing local libraries of child sexual abuse images and adding to the global database. This exercise enabled participants to develop skills needed to lead effective OCSEA investigations and to manage offenders. In addition, the trained officers were granted perpetual access to the Child Protection System.
Through the Octopus and GLACY+ Projects, the Council of Europe will continue to provide support to Mauritius for enhancing capacities and skills of the actors involved, in alignment with international best practices based on the Convention on Cybercrime and the Lanzarote Convention for the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, as global standards.
The Council of Europe gratefully acknowledges voluntary contributions of the donors to the Octopus project.
Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
GLACY+ Project webpage
Octopus Project webpage
Mauritius Attorney General webpage
Mauritius Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions webpage
Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Mauritius webpage
Child Rescue Coalition webpage
In Focus
