The National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States reported receiving 3,638 suspected cases of child sexual exploitation material from Fiji in 2023.
Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica shared this information during a parliamentary update on the National Taskforce to Address Pornography. He explained that the Cyber Tip Line of NCMEC acts as the United States’ primary source for leads regarding child exploitation. This includes crimes that electronic service providers in the U.S. are legally required to report.
Most of the reports are passed on to law enforcement agencies and prosecution, with 99 percent of the cyber tips coming from electronic service providers like Meta, Google, and TikTok, along with a few from the general public.
Kamikamica emphasized the importance of investigating these cyber tip reports and confirmed that discussions are underway between NCMEC and the Fiji Police Force, with assistance from the U.S. government aimed at training local law enforcement. This is in addition to previous training sessions that have already taken place.
He also urged parents, guardians, and communities to be cautious about sharing images and videos of children online, stressing the importance of avoiding uploads of pictures where children are not appropriately clothed. According to him, once these images and videos are posted online, they can be exploited in harmful ways by potential perpetrators. He called for a collective effort to protect children both in physical spaces and online.