EL PAcCTO, strengthening the ELIPSIA Network

Within the framework of the ELIPSIA Network (ELIPSIA being the acronym (in Spanish) for the “Europe-Latin America Initiative for the Protection and Safety of Children and Adolescents”) and in order to discuss the problem of child pornography on the internet and examine the consequences of COVID-19 on the sexual abuse of minors, the police cooperation component of EL PAcCTO will organise a remote meeting during which it is expected to define possible operational supports against paedophiles.

Bearing in mind the impact of COVID-19 and that it is currently impossible to carrying out some of the planned activities, this activity is being organised to prepare all the members of the ELIPSIA Network for a possible increase in on-line sexual abuse crimes involving minors.

Objectives of the activity

The aim is to study the effects that the lockdown has had on the on-line activity of paedophiles by focusing on the known data obtained by the members of the ELIPSIA Network with three major general objectives:

To keep the contacts between members of the network streamlined;
To discuss the problem of on-line child pornography in order to examine the consequences of COVID-19 on the sexual abuse of minors;
To explore future possibilities for collaboration among the countries belonging to the ELIPSIA Network regarding the sexual abuse of minors.

The pandemic has created an unusual situation in terms of investigation, as both adults and minors are currently spending most of their time locked down in their homes, which makes it more difficult for the police forces, who are more focused on investigations related to the state of emergency, on the restriction of fundamental individual and collective rights, on the increase of hundreds of crimes, in particular cybercrime and on the lockdown of police personnel infected by COVID-19, thereby generating the need to adapt material and human resources to the current police operations and criminal trends.

The ELIPSIA Network, a commitment involving many countries

The ELIPSIA Network involves 13 Latin American countries, 6 countries in Europe, Europol and Interpol. (Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal and Uruguay).

Since 2017, EL PAcCTO has been collaborating in the fight against cybercrime and child pornography by establishing the bases of an operational police liaison process implemented via the “ELIPSIA” Operation, which was headed up by the Spanish Civil Guard Technical Judicial Unit. The operation was implemented by way of a series of coordinated investigations undertaken between Latin American and EU countries, in addition to Ameripol and the involvement of Europol and Interpol, with spectacular results.

In September 2018, within the framework of the “EMPACT 2019 OAP Drafting meeting”, the Civil Guard representing Spain, proposed an operational action whose objective was to promote collaboration between the members of Europol and Latin American countries taking part in the Programme.

EL PAcCTO will continue to work hand in hand with the Latin American countries to respond to the needs of those countries with respect to cybercrime and the different criminal methods being used.