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Sabine Katharina Witting and Nyasha Mayanga
With the increasing usage and access to the internet all over the world, our social interactions have more and more expanded online.
The online environment provides us with opportunities to access information, connect and educate ourselves. But it’s also a realm for people to harass, abuse, and exploit vulnerable groups such as women and children.
Since 2018, research shows there has been a 100 percent increase in the number of photos of children being sexually abused reported by tech companies.
UN Women reports that 9 million women have experienced a form of serious internet violence since the age of 15. Online protection is more important than ever as the global Covid-19 pandemic has shifted so many aspects of our lives, including work, school, and socialising, almost exclusively online.
Globally, research shows that online violence against women and children continues to increase in lockdown conditions.
Over the past years, Zimbabwe has distinguished itself as a country committed to fighting online violence.
This commitment has been demonstrated by launching the Zimbabwean Child Online Protection Taskforce (ZICOP), signing of the Global Alliance’s statement of action to tackle online child sexual exploitation, ratification of the UN Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and becoming the second African country to connect to the global Interpol database on child sexual abuse material.
With eyes on Zimbabwe, Parliament continues to build on this momentum by debating a new Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill this week, which was tabled by the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services in May 2020.
While the Bill already makes great strides towards identifying cyber-specific offences and investigation procedures, it does not comprehensively protect women and children from all forms of online violence.
This presents an opportunity to amend the Bill to strengthen children’s and women’s rights online and prevent sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet. As it stands, the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill criminalises “child pornography”.
Internationally, there has been a shift away from this terminology in favour of using “child sexual abuse material”, because the former implies that children can consent to their own exploitation and abuse.
Further, the definition of the term “child sexual abuse material” must also include persons made to look like children as well as realistic depictions of children, because any sexually explicit material depicting children, whether real or virtual, contributes to their further sexual objectification.
This international best practice should be reflected in the new Bill.
The Bill currently criminalises all forms of consensual sexual activity between adolescents online.
This is problematic because consensual sexual exploration is likely to happen during adolescence, and in the digital era this often spills online.
According to ZimStat, in Zimbabwe nearly 40 percent of girls and 24 percent of boys are sexually active before they reach the age of 18.
It is, therefore, essential that the new Cyber Security Bill does not criminalise adolescents for consensually exploring their sexuality with peers, as this will not serve the purpose of protecting them from online harm.
It is concerning that the Bill is completely silent on two phenomena, which require a dedicated criminal provision, namely “cybergrooming”and “upskirting”.
Cybergrooming means the situation when an adult establishes a relationship with a child online to facilitate online or offline sexual contact, while “upskirting” describes the taking of pictures or videos of a person’s private parts without their consent.
Recognising this conduct as sexual offences will not only further protect victims, but also align Zimbabwean legislation to international best practice.
While Zimbabwe has established itself as a country dedicated to online protection, this position cannot be sustained without having laws that reflect this.
As the world moves further online, the new Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill comes at an opportune time to show the world that Zimbabwe is committed to protecting children’s and women’s rights online and the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet.
By including the international definition of “child sexual abuse material”, decriminalising consensual online sexual activity between adolescents, and including provisions on the emerging “cybergrooming” and “upskirting” offences, Zimbabwe can maintain its status as a serious actor in this very important area of society.
Dr Sabine Katharina Witting is the child justice and legal reform officer at UNICEF Zimbabwe and Nyasha Mayanga (PhD) is the child protection Specialist at UNICEF Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter