Global Courant 2023-05-18 03:24:49
Argentina participated this Wednesday in the regional launch of a new application for cell phones, which allows complaints about virtual sexual harassment by an adult to a child or a minor through the Internet. It is called GAPP and it was developed in Argentina.
From the Federal Police, which is carrying out the development of this application for phones throughout Latin America, operated by the non-governmental organization Grooming Argentina, they assure that at the moment this is the only application for cell phones dedicated to fighting this growing crime that affects to minors even up to 9 years old, because even then they have their own mobile phones.
Alejandro Ñamandú, acting commissioner of the Federal Investigation Superintendence, and Hernán Navarro, the director of Grooming Argentina, asserted that the statistics showing the drama of this virtual transnational crime are frightening.
At the end of 2022, it was estimated that at least one in four minors in Argentina had received requests for intimate photos on social networks from their stalkers called groomers. That 70% of bullies are adults.
We are in a position to affirm that a boy or girl, today in Argentina, obtains his or her first cell phone at the age of 9. To this significant data, we must add that on average “they spend 6 hours a day online in the digital environment, through different devices with an Internet connection.”
In addition, they do not consider that it is a crime of a high or medium level of purchasing power. On the contrary, the police give the figures for the use of mobile phones in Argentina that are immense. There are 46 million inhabitants, but an estimated 80 million mobile devices are in circulation.
They presented an application to fight against the sexual harassment of minors on the Internet, known as grooming.
At the regional level, the statistics say the following: for 68.3% of the adults surveyed by ESET Latin America, grooming is a very frequent threat. In this line, 26.3% confirmed knowing a child who has been a victim of grooming. Of these, 52.9% are between 11 and 15 years old, and 33.7% between 7 and 10.
Navarro, founder of the NGO considered that today “boys and girls are “digitally emancipated” in terms of responsibility, from their fathers and mothers, at the young age of 9, according to these data.
Clarín toured the offices of the Division of Cyber Crimes against Children and Adolescents of the PFA, which is directed by Commissioner Gustavo Javier Cabada.
From these offices, with minimalist furniture, but with recharged computer bases and a 24-hour work day, complaints are received that trigger the beginning of lines of investigation that can reach various points. The photos that this newspaper was able to see, without actually being able to detect the identity of the minor, give a clear idea of how terrifying sexual harassment is, where even sometimes children are “delivered” -in this case virtually- by their own relatives, who offer their photos and videos to the grooming market.
Child sexual abuse distribution networks can be detected circulating on the Web, or requests for help or threats. They can come through the Police, relatives, NGOs, here or from other parts of the world. Because, for example, victims were detected in Neuquén whose harassers did not even live in this country.
A model of GAPP, the mobile application from which grooming complaints can be made.
How the APP works
The GAPP application, which the Argentines launched from Cartagena this Wednesday -the meeting was held there- is universal in nature and works like this: any citizen can download it. There are two report buttons. One for a complaint with a name and surname and another for an anonymous complaint.
In all countries where the agreement is in place and citizens have the application on their cell phones, they touch one of the buttons they want and it puts them in touch from the Grooming Argentina lines. The operator refers the query to the GA Legal Team and specialized professionals evaluate the case.
They can refer it to the psychological team of the NGO, and this puts them in direct contact with the Federal Police to start the corresponding intervention or if it is from another country associated with the network, it puts them in contact with the respective police.
Nine organizations from seven countries participate in principle in this new network. Among them, Grooming Argentina together with Corporación Cariño y Valientes (Colombia), Guardianes and Fundación Pas (Mexico), CHS Alternativo (Peru), Paicabi (Chile), Sepamos (Bolivia) and Paniamor (Costa Rica). In Argentina, the application already exists and can be downloaded to any mobile phone.
“The achievement obtained from this model is the result of a long process of interoperability with the sole objective: the protection of children and adolescents in the digital world. It should be noted that the complaints will be referred to the specialized division of Cyber Crimes against Children and Adolescents, dependent on the Cybercrime area of the federal force, for the corresponding investigation and identification of the minor victims in order to achieve their rescue,” he said. Ñamandú, in reference to the Argentine model that uses the PFA as a “central Latin American node”.
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