NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 3 — More than one in four internet-using children aged 12 to 17 in Kenya were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse, a UNICEF report says.

📻 Breaking It Down

The study estimates that 26.83 per cent of internet-using Kenyan children experienced such abuse in the year preceding the survey, equivalent to about 1.29 million children.

Kenya’s prevalence was broadly in line with the 26.8 per cent average across six Eastern and Southern African countries covered by the study — Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda.

UNICEF cautions that the regional figure represents only participating countries and should not be treated as an estimate for the entire region.

📌 What You Need to Know

The report, Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse , found that most reported incidents in Kenya involved people children already knew.

Sixty-six per cent of Kenyan incidents involved someone known to the child, compared with 17 per cent involving strangers and 18 per cent where the perpetrator was unidentified.

UNICEF says the finding challenges the perception that online abuse is primarily perpetrated by strangers.

Social media was the most common digital environment in which the abuse occurred, accounting for 61 per cent of incidents in Kenya, while gaming environments accounted for 11.6 per cent. Another 17.9 per cent involved an in-person setting where technology facilitated the abuse.

Across the 21 countries, social media accounted for 59 per cent of reported incidents, with gaming environments accounting for 14 per cent.

The report says digital platforms can enable abuse through features that allow perpetrators to exploit children’s trust and maintain contact.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya