Technology helps halt human trafficking
The trafficking of human beings (THB) has accelerated worldwide. In Europe, most human trafficking victims are sexually exploited women and children. Information and communication technologies exacerbate the problem, creating new ways for crimes to happen. The tools available to agencies dedicated to combatting these crimes have trouble keeping up with the rapid pace of technological growth and the speed with which criminals put new technology to use. The EU-funded HEROES project addresses this problem by bringing together an interdisciplinary international team committed to stopping THB through a technology-driven, victim-centred approach.
Prevention, investigation and victim assistance
Guiding the project’s work is a three-pronged focus on distinct aspects of child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual exploitation (CSE). In terms of prevention, raising awareness is an essential strategy. According to project coordinator Luis Javier García Villalba: “Children and young people are not sufficiently aware of the risks they face when using social networks and communicating online with strangers. Moreover, adults with a duty to care for children struggle to find the right words to talk to them about online risks and tend not to understand the apps and platforms children use.” When it comes to investigating CSA and CSE, law enforcement is in need of new tools that address the growing quantity of criminal material present on the web. It is time-consuming and traumatising for officers to comb through images and other content related to CSA or CSE. Identifying such material is an excellent application for AI. Stakeholders also need to do better when it comes to caring for victims, particularly ensuring that they are not re-victimised by the legal process. Villalba shares: “Victims are still struggling through the justice system, from making the first report all the way through to potential rehabilitation. HEROES aims to create solutions to better support victims of CSA/CSE and trafficking crimes, and to do so we have developed research, protocols and guidelines.”
Leveraging technology to protect THB victims
HEROES has 24 partners across 17 countries, spanning Europe, South America and Asia. One challenge of this consortium was bridging communication differences between social workers and IT developers. The project held several workshops to bring these cohorts together, and in the end the varied perspectives and experiences of the participants led to richer dialogue and robust results. HEROES developed multiple tools for law enforcement, including an Automatic CSAM/CSEM Identification and Classification tool to detect CSAM/CSEM in multimedia files. The project also produced a suite of Open Source Intelligence Tools (OSINT) that can locate Child Sexual Abuse/Exploitation Material (CSAM/CSEM) on the dark web and the surface web. Other achievements include a novel tool to help investigate peer-to-peer networks and a forensic tool to identify relevant data related to THB and CSA/CSE crimes from seized devices. HEROES used technology to target prevention too. Villalba says: “In HEROES, we have developed preventive tools such as an anti-grooming mobile app that detects grooming at early stages, a fake job offer classifier to help prevent trafficking through fraudulent online job offers and a mobile application that allows citizens to report incidents regarding potential THB and CSA/CSE cases.” The project has developed non-technical resources as well, including frameworks, awareness raising guidelines and a manual for early identification of potential victims of THB and CSA/CSE. Heroes has also developed international prevention campaigns to complement the technological tools it produced. In Bangladesh, the HEROES (heroes-fct.es) (Red Heart Campaign) promotes the rights of children who have been sexually exploited. In Colombia, the Barranquilla Carnival 2024; a party for the prevention of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation – Renacer Foundation against sexual violence (fundacionrenacer.org) (Barranquilla Festival) joins the fight against the trafficking of children. By combining the expertise of psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, social workers, health workers, computer developers and experts in computer security and forensics, HEROES is making the world safer for children and others at risk of human trafficking.
Keywords
HEROES, CSA, human trafficking, prevention, THB, investigation, victim assistance, child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation, SCE