HEROES has successfully developed a series of innovative solutions designed to combat online threats against children and improve responses to THB and CSA/CSE. These solutions encompass both technological tools and social initiatives, aligning with the project's three fundamental pillars: Prevention, Investigation, and Victim Assistance.
Prevention:
•Anti-grooming Mobile App (AGapp): Allows the detection, and alerting of grooming attempts through messaging applications or multimedia materials.
•Citizen Reporting App (CR): Allows citizens to report incidents of CSA/E and THB to local police, who evaluate and classify the report for further action.
•Identifying Fake Job Offers (INDOOR): A tool to detect and analyze fake job offers to combat human trafficking. It supports NGOs and LEAs in identifying online recruitment of trafficking victims.
•Training Curricula: to prevent and respond to CSA/CSE and THB. Offered through ICMEC's Online Learning Platform, accessible free of charge in multiple languages.
•Online THB and CSA/CSE Prevention Programs: Comprehensive guides to educate key stakeholders on online crimes against children, with engaging, culturally appropriate, and accessible content in diverse formats and languages.
•Training Plan for Health Care Workers: To enhance collaboration in investigations and responses to THB/CSA/CSE, promoting better outcomes for victims and successful prosecutions.
Investigation:
•Automatic CSAM/CSEM Identification and Classification Tool (ACPIC): Tool to automatically detect and classify CSA/CSE material in multimedia files to help LEAs save time in their investigations.
•Real-time IMA Content Acquisition (RIMA): Addresses the growing problem of data capture in IMA, with a special focus on protecting minors.
•File Context Analysis from Seized Devices (FCA): enable automatic analysis of files contained on a seized device and allow agents to conduct intelligent searches.
•Open Source Intelligence Tools (OSINT): Tool to streamline criminal investigations by automating data collection and analysis, facilitating the identification of correlations and additional evidence.
•P2P CSAM/CSEM Identification Tool (P2PT): The tool will allow LEAs to search for, detect and identify any CSAM/CSEM that have been distributed via P2P networks with the novelty of detecting new images derived from existing/known CSAM/CSEM that have gone through modification, which would not have been detected using traditional.
•Profile/Content Generator (PCG): Creation and management of profiles, enabling investigators to improve the efficiency of their processes and achieve accurate identifications in cases related to CSA/CSE.
Victim Assistance:
•Best practices guidelines for trauma bonding identification protocol: Focus on breaking the traumatic bond between victims and their abusers. This action-oriented approach provides educational and emotional tools to empower victims. This strategy aids in facilitating a safe transition from abusive situations, helping victims regain emotional autonomy and rebuild their lives in a healthier environment.
•Guidelines of awareness and victim’s assistance resources addressing to governments and stakeholders to follow on investigation and prosecution: HEROES has developed a customisable protocol that enables countries or organisations to establish or enhance their own MDTs, ensuring that the framework meets specific contextual needs.
•E-learning-based training programs for passenger transport personnel addressing to identification and assistance possible THB and CSA/CSE victims.
The consortium disseminated the project results, the developments, and the outcomes known to and exploited by the relevant parties and interested members of the public through different means. In particular, the promotion of the project processes and outcomes.
